Curmudgeonly scholar Emily Wilde must brave the beautiful but haunted Black Forest and open a portal to a long-lost, eldritch realm dreaded by the Folk, in this fourth instalment of the bestselling Emily Wilde series.

Driven by an insatiable scientific curiosity, Emily Wilde has made a name for herself as the world's foremost scholar of faeries. Along the way, she's rescued a faerie kingdom and helped her now-husband - fellow professor Wendell Bambleby, dashing and infuriating in equal measure - regain his throne. And while understanding her fellow mortals has never been her strong suit, she's also made a small number of friends.

But two years later, one of those friends goes missing in the beautiful but faerie-haunted Black Forest in Germany, a region of picturesque villages and sinister Folk. And if she's to save him, Emily will have to reckon with the darker side of her own nature, and how ruthless she's prepared to be to solve the most tantalising of scholarly mysteries: the history of the ancient and long-lost realm she's named Dark Faerie, the only place the Folk fear.

But Emily is not alone - she has her beloved Wendell, and her niece Ariadne, who hopes to follow in her footsteps. Told from the perspective of all three characters, this instalment of the Emily Wilde series opens a magical portal to the most wondrous and dread faerie realm of all.

Praise for the Emily Wilde books:

'Forget dark academia: give me instead this kind of winter-sunshined, sharp-tongued and footnoted academia, full of field trips and grumpy romance' Freya Marske, author of A Marvellous Light

'A darkly gorgeous fantasy that sparkles with snow and magic, this book wholly enchanted me' Sangu Mandanna, author of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches

'A thoroughly charming academic fairy tale, complete with footnotes and a low-key grumpy romance' Guardian

'Enchanting in every sense of the word. . . This book is real magic' H. G. Parry, author of The Magician's Daughter

'A book so vividly, endlessly enchanting, so crisply assured, so rich and complete and wise and far-reaching in its worldbuilding that you'll walk away half ensorcelled, sure Fawcett found Emily Wilde's journal in some sea-stained trunk' Melissa Albert

'The ideal book to curl up with on a chilly winter's evening. . . this book is an absolute delight.' Megan Bannen, author of The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy

'I enjoyed every word of this gorgeously written fairy tale featuring a grumpy heroine and an utterly charming love interest' Isabel Ibañez, author of Woven In Moonlight