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Publisher Description
A #1 New York Times Bestseller and New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice!
Legendary storyteller Stephen King goes into the deepest well of his imagination in this spellbinding novel about a seventeen-year-old boy who inherits the keys to a parallel world where good and evil are at war, and the stakes could not be higher—for that world or ours.
Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, great at baseball and football, a decent student. But he carries a heavy load. His mom was killed in a hit-and-run accident when he was ten, and grief drove his dad to drink. Charlie learned how to take care of himself—and his dad. When Charlie is seventeen, he meets a dog named Radar and her aging master, Howard Bowditch, a recluse in a big house at the top of a big hill, with a locked shed in the backyard. Sometimes strange sounds emerge from it.
Charlie starts doing jobs for Mr. Bowditch and loses his heart to Radar. Then, when Bowditch dies, he leaves Charlie a cassette tape telling a story no one would believe. What Bowditch knows, and has kept secret all his long life, is that inside the shed is a portal to another world.
Magnificent, terrifying, and “spellbinding…packed with glorious flights of imagination and characteristic tenderness about childhood, Fairy Tale is vintage King at his finest” (Esquire).
“Good, evil, a kingdom to save, monsters to slay—these are the stuff that page-turners are made from.” —Laura Miller, Slate
Legendary storyteller Stephen King goes into the deepest well of his imagination in this spellbinding novel about a seventeen-year-old boy who inherits the keys to a parallel world where good and evil are at war, and the stakes could not be higher—for that world or ours.
Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, great at baseball and football, a decent student. But he carries a heavy load. His mom was killed in a hit-and-run accident when he was ten, and grief drove his dad to drink. Charlie learned how to take care of himself—and his dad. When Charlie is seventeen, he meets a dog named Radar and her aging master, Howard Bowditch, a recluse in a big house at the top of a big hill, with a locked shed in the backyard. Sometimes strange sounds emerge from it.
Charlie starts doing jobs for Mr. Bowditch and loses his heart to Radar. Then, when Bowditch dies, he leaves Charlie a cassette tape telling a story no one would believe. What Bowditch knows, and has kept secret all his long life, is that inside the shed is a portal to another world.
Magnificent, terrifying, and “spellbinding…packed with glorious flights of imagination and characteristic tenderness about childhood, Fairy Tale is vintage King at his finest” (Esquire).
“Good, evil, a kingdom to save, monsters to slay—these are the stuff that page-turners are made from.” —Laura Miller, Slate
487 Reviews
4.0
Jessica
Created 5 months agoShare
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“I can’t even begin to describe how amazing this book is. Just read it yourself and you’ll see! Such a good book from start to finish. Highly recommend if you like fantasy and adventure. If you like whimsical things like Alice in wonderland or the wizard of oz but you also like dark spooky things, this is the book for you. I sincerely didn’t want it to end. I hope there’s a second one so I can spend more time in the other world! 10/10 amazing story. Masterpiece.”Beautifully writtenWhimsicalAddictiveSuspensefulBeautiful settingDark settingHauntingMagical settingVividThought-provoking
Becca Wilson
Created 5 months agoShare
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“I really appreciated this story. The book is slow but that’s what I was looking for. The characters are people you would like to be friends and hang out with and it feels good every time you come back to listen to their journey. The audiobook was well narrated despite the length. I will look back on this listen fondly. As with other Stephen King books I’ve read, it is well written but does have a bit of fluff. I give Fairy Tale a 4 out of 5 stars.”Reviewed in:Between The Lines
Diverse charactersLikable charactersBeautifully writtenCreative settingDescriptiveFeel goodDense writingUnsatisfying ending
Ashli
Created 7 months agoShare
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“I really enjoyed the first half+ of this book - discussing the dog and his life and the dog's life too made me happy and sad simultaneously. The back half of the book I struggled with... until the last few chapters but all in all it was a good book, a great love story to a dog. And now I need to hug my dogs!”Reviewed in:Wildflower Book Club
CuteHeroic figuresBeautiful setting
“Overall I enjoyed Fairy Tale, but I am prone to enjoying stories of other worlds and magic. There were moments that I asked, “What it necessary to say that?” Or a particular thing happened and I don’t think it was necessary. But it started a simple story of friendship and grew into something much bigger.”Reviewed in:Book Bruhs
Characters change and growHeroic figuresLikable charactersMorally ambiguousComplexUnpredictableCreative settingComing of age
Sarah H
Created 7 months agoShare
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“I can’t believe I waited so long to read this book, so I’m glad we are reading it for the BBB Book Club. Did I pick this book solely base on its name? Yes
Was it anything I expected based on the name.. not exactly. This book hit me in the feels from the very first chapter. It’s written kind of like a memoir, in first person. There was humour, heartbreak, joy and a little action. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and only lost .5 of a star as it wasn’t quite “I can’t put this down” the whole way.”Reviewed in:Boundary Book Babes
Relatable charactersConversationalTwistyMagical settingMade me cry
About Stephen King
Stephen King is the author of more than sixty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His recent work includes Holly, Fairy Tale, Billy Summers, If It Bleeds, The Institute, Elevation, The Outsider, Sleeping Beauties (cowritten with his son Owen King), and the Bill Hodges trilogy: End of Watch, Finders Keepers, and Mr. Mercedes (an Edgar Award winner for Best Novel and a television series streaming on Peacock). His novel 11/22/63 was named a top ten book of 2011 by The New York Times Book Review and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller. His epic works The Dark Tower, It, Pet Sematary, Doctor Sleep, and Firestarter are the basis for major motion pictures, with It now the highest-grossing horror film of all time. He is the recipient of the 2020 Audio Publishers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2018 PEN America Literary Service Award, the 2014 National Medal of Arts, and the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.
Other books by Stephen King
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