4.0
Fairy Tale
ByPublisher Description
Master storyteller Stephen King goes into the deepest well of his imagination in this #1 New York Times bestselling and spellbinding novel about a young man 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 horrific accident when he was seven, 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 that shed.
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.
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 horrific accident when he was seven, 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 that shed.
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.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communities16998 Reviews
4.0
Marie
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Tyrell
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Victory Whaley
Created about 6 hours agoShare
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Strong villainUnforgettable protagonistAction-packedClever plottingEpic scopeAtmosphericEnchantedEvocative imageryImmersive world-buildingDescriptiveRepetitiveWhimsical toneCaptivatingExhilaratingFascinatingEasy to followLogical progressionWell-pacedAbuseChild abuseDomestic violenceExplicit sexual contentReligious intoleranceViolenceWar violence
Nicky
Created about 8 hours agoShare
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“Just finished this one. Blimey…. It was epic, addictive, made me cry, loved it. A love letter to myths, fables and of course fairytales. Full review to follow…”BelievableChange and growDiverse representationLikeableMemorableMinor characters stand outMultilayeredOriginalStrong relationshipsAction-packedAddictiveClever plottingEpic scopeSuspensefulWell-structuredAtmosphericBeautifulDarkEvocative imageryOtherworldlyPicturesqueRusticSurrealUnique locationVivid descriptionsBeautifully-writtenOriginalDeathViolence
Elaine Pares
Created about 11 hours agoShare
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About Stephen King
Stephen King is the author of more than sixty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His recent work includes Never Flinch (May 2025), the short story collection You Like It Darker (a New York Times Book Review top ten horror book of 2024), Holly (a New York Times Notable Book of 2023), 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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