The Best Dutch Fairy Tales: The Most Beautiful & Haunting Folklore from the Netherlands

Discover the dark, breathtaking side of Dutch folklore that Hans Christian Andersen never dared to tell.

The Best Dutch Fairy Tales gathers 16 haunting original retellings inspired by the windmills, dikes, tulips, and restless North Sea of the Netherlands. These are not the cheerful stories of clogs and windmills you heard as a child. These are the tales the sea whispers when the fog rolls in:

• A boy who plugs a leaking dike with his still-beating heart
• A black tulip that eats ambition and shadows
• A mermaid whose kiss turns lovers into eternal crewmen on the Flying Dutchman
• A lone wooden clog that walks Amsterdam's empty streets searching for its lost owner
• A singing cheese that only children and sinners can hear
• A bicycle that pedals itself through the night, carrying every forgotten goodbye

Beautiful, bleak, and unforgettable - perfect for fans of Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology, the dark Brothers Grimm collections, Angela Carter's Bloody Chamber, and Mexican Gothic.

If you love atmospheric, poetic horror wrapped in fairy-tale clothing, if you've ever wondered what lurks beneath the tidy Dutch landscape of canals and polders, this is the book you've been waiting for.

"Like staring into black water and seeing your own reflection staring back with someone else's eyes." "The Dutch version of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark - but infinitely more beautiful and heartbreaking."

Add to cart now and let the Low Countries tell you their real bedtime stories. One click - and the tide starts rising.