Books steeped in Folklore

Submitted: 22nd May 2024

Books with folklore at their heart

There are novels which introduce you to some very unusual cultural and folkloric themes. Pixies, strange statues, legends that freeze your heart…

Cornwall

Map of locations in The Serpent Dance

On the Feast of St John the Cornish villagers of Trevennick dance around midsummer bonfires and make offerings to the river.

There are lots of Cornish traditions and myths mentioned in the book and it’s what you believe or not…but then something strange starts to happen…

The Shadow Key Susan Stokes-Chapman Wales

The Shadow Key – Map of locations

A disgraced doctor heads to the backwaters of Wales. A remote place where he can’t speak the language, and where the belief in myth and magic is rife. The villagers treat him with bewildering suspicion. And then he discovers that his predecessor died under mysterious circumstances…..

Are the legends and the whispers true?

China

Map of locations in The Fox Wife

They say there are foxes in Manchuria, believed to lure people into peril by transforming into beautiful women and men.

Norfolk

Map of locations in The Leviathan

Set in the wild and wet, marshy Norfolk landscape. This book takes place at a time of great political turmoil and upheaval and has superstitious and gothic overtones to match. There are descriptions of rural life and history, war and supernatural beings.

Add strong overtones of witchcraft and you have quite the novel: “Something has awoken, and now it will not rest”

Icelandic folk tales Stefánsson Hjörleifur Helgi Iceland

Map of locations in Icelandic Folk Tales

Iceland is a country where stories are as important as history. When Vikings settled the island, they brought their tales with them. Every rock, hot spring and waterfall seems to have its own story. Cruel man-eating trolls rub shoulders with beautiful elves. Are you ready to discover more?