Forgotten fairy tales retold with soul
Historical fantasy where magic is real, love is hard-won, and hope always finds a way.
Vasilisa (A Russian Fairy Tale Retelling)
Fourth Sister (A Japanese Fairy Tale Retelling)
Heartless Hette (A German Fairy Tale Retelling)
Vasilisa
In the shadow of ancient Ruskan forests, where old magic still whispers, a servant girl will risk everything to save the nobleman’s son who dared to love her.
Born of the forest with strength no human should possess, Vasilisa has learned to hide what she is. Only Staver—the master’s gentle son—sees the person beneath the fear.
Their love is forbidden. Servants cannot marry nobles. But Staver forsakes his inheritance to find a way, and for one beautiful year, they exchange letters and plan their future.
Then the Scythian army invades.
Vasilisa returns to find Staver barely clinging to life. To become his healer and protector, she must embrace the trickery and power her frightening bloodline grants—even if the truth of what she is drives him away forever.
She’s always known she was different. She never knew why—until saving the man she loves demands she become the very thing she’s always feared.
A lush retelling of Russian folklore where Cinderella saves the prince.
“A rich, beautiful story that feels like historical fiction set in medieval Russia with strong flavors of old fairytale magic and romance.” – Katy Huth Jones
Fourth Sister
Whitney Award Finalist 2021
The fourth of seven sisters, Shisei has always been called cursed. Her twin brother died at birth. Her name shortens to shi—death. And in a world where superstition rules and myths walk among mortals, she’s the only one who can see the fox spirit that shadows her.
When her eldest sister’s pregnancy threatens to become another death laid at Shisei’s feet, she flees before death can follow her home again. She finds purpose as an apprentice to a mask maker, learning that broken things, when mended with gold, become more beautiful than before.
But death finds her anyway.
When her youngest sister faces execution for a crime she didn’t commit, she’s given seven impossible tests to prove her innocence—each representing a divine attribute. Each sister possesses one gift, and Shisei holds the thread that can weave them all together: the art of illusion. Using her talents to make each sister appear as the youngest, they’ll risk everything on a deception that could condemn them all.
Woven with haiku, Japanese folklore, and the delicate art of mask-making, Fourth Sister is a love story—not of romance, but of sisterhood. A tale of self-acceptance, mending broken relationships, and discovering that what we believe is our curse may be our greatest strength.
Little Women x Spirited Away
“Every description and dialogue is so authentic that it is like looking into another place and time and immerses you in a world where myths are reality but superstition also abounds. The characters are intensely human. One of the captivating elements is how true to life they are.” – Rick Haws
Heartless Hette
SPFBO8 Semi-Finalist
What would you sacrifice to feel nothing?
When Princess Hette refuses a sorcerer’s marriage proposal, he retaliates by stealing her heart and replacing it with clockwork. Now she feels only what he commands—a manufactured desire that mocks everything love should be.
To resist his manipulation, Hette does the unthinkable: she shuts down completely. No joy. No sorrow. No vulnerability. If she feels nothing, he controls nothing.
But a heart can’t be reclaimed by someone who refuses to feel.
The only person who knows where the sorcerer hides her heart is Konrad, the court jester everyone mocks. He’s cursed too, carrying wounds that span generations. When he offers to guide her, Hette faces an impossible problem: Konrad makes her want to feel again. His humor cracks her armor. His pain mirrors her own.
Together, they journey through an enchanted forest where every trial demands what they can’t afford to give: memories, identity, hope. The deeper they travel, the more Hette realizes the truth—winning back her heart means risking it.
And when the final choice arrives—her heart or Konrad’s life—Hette must decide: Is love worth the risk of loss? Can you choose to feel when feeling might destroy you?
A richly layered fairy tale retelling inspired by “The Princess Who Never Laughed.”
“Lush in details, rich in characterization, and written with (forgive me) heart, Heartless Hette is far more than just another rewritten fairytale. This is many fairytales woven into an epic quest, one that will test Farb’s characters and delight readers for generations to come.” — Jennifer deBie (rosieamber.wordpress.com)
ML Farb 