The Witch and Other Tales Retold

In this spooky, enthralling, and morally complex collection, National Book Award finalist Thompson (Who Do You Love) reimagines classic fairy tales, such as “Cinderella” and “The Pied Piper of Hamelin,” as eight realistic narratives of family, sexuality, and faith. Announcing in a preface that she doesn’t aim to write “recountings or versions of the old tales but something looser,” Thompson sets all but one in the modern-day U.S. In each, she shows evil, wonder, and majesty—originally symbolized by witches, magical creatures, and fantastical kingdoms—as separate vectors of the divided self. In the title story, Hansel and Gretel are recast as foster children placed with an elderly woman whose crankiness one of them mistakes for malevolence, with tragic consequences. “Candy” locates innocence (such as Snow White’s) and cunning (such as Maleficent’s) in a single teenage girl, who oscillates between her identities as a self-conscious loner at school and a power-wielding temptress in online chat rooms. Thompson skillfully infuses our banal world of technology, reality TV, and pop psychology with genuine horror. Indeed, many of the entries—the Rapunzelesque “Your Secret’s Safe With Me,” in particular—are as eerie as anything you’ll find in the Brothers Grimm. Agent: Henry Dunow, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner Literary Agency. (Sept.)