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25 Remote Warehouse Science Fiction and Fantasy- Fantasy- Historical

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Fitcher's Brides (Fairy Tale)

by Gregory Frost

Fitcher's Brides (Fairy Tale) Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

The tale of Bluebeard, reenvisioned as a dark fable of faith and truth

1843 is the “last year of the world,” according the Elias Fitcher, a charismatic preacher in the Finger Lakes district of New York State. He's established a utopian community on an estate outside the town of Jeckyll's Glen, where the faithful wait, work, and pray for the world to end.

Vernelia, Amy, and Catherine Charter are the three young townswomen whose father falls under the Reverend Fitcher’s hypnotic sway. In their old house, where ghostly voices whisper from the walls, the girls are ruled by their stepmother, who is ruled in turn by the fiery preacher. Determined to spend Eternity as a married man, Fitcher casts his eye on Vernelia, and before much longer the two are wed. But living on the man's estate, separated from her family, Vern soon learns the extent of her husband’s dark side. It's rumored that he's been married before, though what became of those wives she does not know. Perhaps the secret lies in the locked room at the very top of the house—the sin-gle room that the Reverend Fitcher has forbidden to her.

Inspired by the classic fairy tales "Bluebeard" and "The Fitcher Bird," this dark fantasy is set in New York State’s “Burned-Over District,” at its time of historic religious ferment. All three Charter sisters will play their part in the story of Fitcher's Utopia: a story of faith gone wrong, and evil coun-tered by one brave, true soul.

About the Author

Gregory Frost is the author of several well-received novels, including the fantasies Tain, Renscela, and Lyrec, and the SF novel The Pure Cold Light. He lives near Philadelphia.

Series creator Terri Windling has been a champion of adult fairy-tale fiction for over two decades, editing such anthologies as The Armless Maiden and the Snow White, Blood Red series with Ellen Datlow.

Series artist Thomas Canty has worked on many fairy-tale collaborations with Windling, in-cluding all the volumes of this series.

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
crowyhead, September 15, 2006 (view all comments by crowyhead)
This is a masterful combination of the "Bluebeard" and "Fitcher's Bird" fairytales, set in New York state in the 1830s. Vernelia, Amy, and Kate have been uprooted from Boston by their father and stepmother and brought to Harbinger House, the apocalyptic community led by the Reverend Elias Fitcher. At Harbinger House, hundreds of men, women, and children live and work communally while they wait for the end of the world, which according to Rev. Fitcher will occur in just three short months. When Rev. Fitcher makes it clear that he has no desire to spend the next life alone, it is Vern who marries him, little realizing that she is in unimaginable danger -- as is the entire population of Harbinger House.

This book is thoroughly creepy and lives up to the bloody precedent set by its source material. Frost also makes excellent use of the obsessions and fads of the time, touching on Spiritualism and communication with the dead, mesmerism, and of course apocalyptic fervor. The story moves slowly, but builds to a truly terrifying and exhilarating climax.

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Product Details

ISBN:
9780765301956
Author:
Frost, Gregory
Publisher:
Tor Books
Subject:
Science Fiction - General
Subject:
Fantasy - General
Subject:
Fantasy - Historical
Edition Description:
Tor
Series:
Fairy Tale
Publication Date:
December 2003
Binding:
Paperback
Language:
English
Pages:
398
Dimensions:
8.77x5.40x.97 in. 1.09 lbs.

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