Tales From Northern Europe

Across Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland and Germany, stories move along fjords and forest tracks, over sea lanes and winter roads, from fishing huts and farm kitchens to town squares and narrow alleys. In these pages you will find sly farmers and proud jarls, kings and wanderers, saints and scoundrels, talking beasts and troublesome spirits, bargains made at twilight, and small acts of grit that turn the whole day on its hinge. Some tales sparkle, some sting, and some sit quietly for a moment before they change what you thought you knew.

This collection gathers folktales, fairy tales and legends shaped by the North's stark beauty and hard seasons, the pine-dark stretches, the wind off the water, the long night, and the bright, brief summers. Here are old tricks and old truths, retold with a clear voice and a feel for place, where wit matters, courage counts, and the world is never quite as ordinary as it looks. Read them aloud, read them late, and let them do what they have always done best, which is to keep wonder close, and to make the darkness less daunting.