Popular European Fantasy Books
Find fantasy books written by authors from Europe for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (311)
271.
The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman EN
EnglandDescription:
On the eve of her wedding, a young queen sets out to rescue a princess from an enchantment. She casts aside her fine wedding clothes, takes her chain mail and her sword and follows her brave dwarf retainers into the tunnels under the mountain towards the sleeping kingdom. This queen will decide her own future - and the princess who needs rescuing is not quite what she seems.
272.
The Solitaire Mystery by Jostein Gaarder EN
NorwayDescription:
In The Solitaire Mystery, Hans Thomas and his father set out on a car trip through Europe, from Norway to Greece - the birthplace of philosophy - in search of Hans Thomas's mother, who left them many years earlier. On the way, Hans Thomas receives a mysterious miniature book - the fantastic memoir of a sailor shipwrecked in 1842 on a strange island where a deck of cards has come to life. But how do these stories fit together? Who is the little man who keeps cropping up on their trip? And why must Hans Thomas learn about the distant past before he can understand his mother's more recent disappe... continue
273.
The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter by Theodora Goss EN
HungaryDescription:
Based on some of literature’s horror and science fiction classics, this “tour de force of reclaiming the narrative, executed with impressive wit and insight” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) debut is the story of a remarkable group of women who come together to solve the mystery of a series of gruesome murders—and the bigger mystery of their own origins. Mary Jekyll, alone and penniless following her parents’ death, is curious about the secrets of her father’s mysterious past. One clue in particular hints that Edward Hyde, her father’s former friend and a murderer, may be nearby, and there ... continue
274.
The Surface Breaks: a Reimagining of the Little Mermaid by Louise O’Neill EN
IrelandDescription:
Think you know the story of The Little Mermaid? Think again... This is a book with the darkest of undercurrents, full of rage and rallying cries: storytelling at its most spellbinding. Deep beneath the sea, off the cold Irish coast, Gaia is a young mermaid who dreams of freedom from her controlling father. On her first swim to the surface, she is drawn towards a human boy. She longs to join his carefree world, but how much will she have to sacrifice? What will it take for the little mermaid to find her voice? Hans Christian Andersen's original fairy tale is reimagined through a searing feminis... continue
Germany276.
The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht EN
SerbiaDescription:
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • The instant classic debut novel from the author of Inland and The Morningside, hailed as “a thrilling beginning to what will certainly be a great literary career” (Elle) “Spectacular . . . [Téa Obreht] spins a tale of such marvel and magic in a literary voice so enchanting that the mesmerized reader wants her never to stop.”—Entertainment Weekly “Not since Zadie Smith has a young writer arrived with such power and grace.”—Time ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times; Entertainment Weekly; The Christi... continue
277.
The Time of Contempt by Andrzej Sapkowski EN
PolandDescription:
Soon to be a major Netflix original series! To protect his ward, Ciri, Geralt of Rivia sends her away from the home of the Witchers to train with the sorceress Yennefer. But all is not well within the Wizard's Guild in the second book of the NYT bestselling series that inspired the blockbuster video games. Geralt is a witcher: guardian of the innocent; protector of those in need; a defender, in dark times, against some of the most frightening creatures of myth and legend. His task, now, is to protect Ciri. A child of prophecy, she will have the power to change the world for good or for ill -- ... continue
278.
The Tinder Box by Hans Christian Andersen EN
DenmarkDescription:
Andersen's bittersweet fairy tales propelled their troubled author to international fame and revolutionized children's writing.
279.
The Tower of the Swallow by Andrzej Sapkowski EN
Description:
The world has fallen into war. Ciri, the child of prophecy, has vanished. Hunted by friends and foes alike, she has taken on the guise of a petty bandit and lives free for the first time in her life. But the net around her is closing. Geralt, the Witcher, has assembled a group of allies determined to rescue her. Both sides of the war have sent brutal mercenaries to hunt her down. Her crimes have made her famous. There is only one place left to run. The tower of the swallow is waiting
280.
The Twenty Days of Turin by Giorgio De Maria EN
ItalyDescription:
An NPR Best Book of the Year Written during the height of the 1970s Italian domestic terror, a cult novel, with distinct echoes of Lovecraft and Borges, makes its English-language debut. In the spare wing of a church-run sanatorium, some zealous youths create "the Library," a space where lonely citizens can read one another’s personal diaries and connect with like-minded souls in "dialogues across the ether." But when their scribblings devolve into the ugliest confessions of the macabre, the Library’s users learn too late that a malicious force has consumed their privacy and their sanity. As t... continue