About this Event
Join us on Monday 19th October for an evening with Sarah Clegg, talking about her new book Perilous Enchantment: The True History of Faeries. Sarah will be signing copies of her book afterwards. Tickets are £5 plus Eventbrite fee. Refreshments are free.
In Perilous Enchantment, Sarah Clegg tracks the fascinating history of fairies, from the pre-Christian creatures of classical myths to the stories of fairy royalty told in the medieval French courts; from the early modern period in which fairies became bound up with the witch trials to the 16 th century when they were imagined as tiny for the first time, the 17th century when they gained their wings and the late Victorian era, which made them sweet, pretty things with pointy ears, right through to their contemporary manifestation in both the sanitised cuteness of girlhood and in the darker realm of fantasy and romantasy.
In pursuit of the fae, in all their darkness and splendour, Clegg visits significant faerie sites across the world, including the Thirteenth Night celebrations of Iceland, where the elf fires are lit; the Eildon Hills in Scotland, in search of a beautiful enchantress; an entrance to fairyland in the Apennine Mountains; a castle and mine in Germany haunted by a once-helpful fairy turned murderous; a magical stone circle in Cornwall with the power to reverse a changing curse; and a fairy ball in Los Angeles.
As Clegg shines fresh light on the real and imagined landscape of fairies, she also illuminates how tales change in the telling, how our folklore evolves in response to culture, religion and politics, and how the stories we share in turn shape the beliefs we hold. The one constant in this story of perpetual transformation is our own willingness to be enchanted by the fae, in all their darkness and splendour.
Sarah Clegg is the author of the Sunday Times bestseller The Dead of Winter. Her first book, Woman's Lore, was shortlisted for the HWA Non-Fiction Crown. She has a PhD in ancient history from the University of Cambridge, is a former bookseller and now works in publishing.
Event venue & nearby stays
Everybody Reads, 6 Chiswick High Road, London, United Kingdom
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