Ordinary Wonder Tales

A journalist and folklorist explores the truths that underlie the stories we imagine—and reveals the magic in the everyday.

"I've always felt that the term fairy tale doesn't quite capture the essence of these stories," writes Emily Urquhart. "I prefer the term wonder tale, which is Irish in origin, for its suggestion of awe coupled with narrative. In a way, this is most of our stories." In this startlingly original essay collection, Urquhart reveals the truths that underlie our imaginings: what we see in our heads when we read, how the sight of a ghost can heal, how the entrance to the underworld can be glimpsed in an oil painting or a winter storm—or the onset of a loved one's dementia. In essays on death and dying, pregnancy and prenatal genetics, psychics, chimeras, cottagers, and plague, Ordinary Wonder Tales reveals the essential truth: if you let yourself look closely, there is magic in the everyday. (From Biblioasis)

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Emily Urquhart is a writer and folklorist currently living in Kitchener, Ont. She is also the author of Beyond the Pale and The Age of Creativity. 

Interviews with Emily Urquhart

The Next Chapter15:43Emily Urquhart on Beyond the Pale

Featured VideoThe folklorist and author talks about how her daughter's albinism set her on a quest to understand the condition. The result is her book, Beyond the Pale: Folklore, Family and the Mystery of Our Hidden Genes.