Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries Summary: A Descent into Faerie Danger
Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries mixes academic field notes with dangerous faerie bargains.
Readers who want to know what happens without editorial commentary will find the key details below.
The summary includes full spoilers in the designated sections.
See Also: Heather Fawcett book summaries on URSummary.
TL;DR: The Scholarly Fieldwork Takes a Dark Turn
- Dr. Emily Wilde, a Cambridge dryadology scholar, travels to the remote island of Ljosland to document the Hidden Ones for her encyclopaedia.
- Her quiet fieldwork is interrupted by Wendell Bambleby, a charming colleague and academic rival.
- Bambleby is later revealed to be an exiled faerie prince from the Irish forest of Silva Lupi.
- The plot moves from local social friction and changeling investigations to abductions, a hidden faerie king, and a forced winter marriage.
- Main ideas include academic order versus magical chaos, hospitality and community, the practical power of folklore, and exile.
Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries Summary: The Wintry Descent
Spoilers follow.
Set in October 1909, Heather Fawcett’s Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries opens with Emily arriving in Hrafnsvik, a mountain village on the island of Ljosland. She rents a cottage from Krystjan Egilson and receives help from his son Finn.
Her social mistakes with Aud Hallasdottir, the village headwoman, cause the locals to treat her as cold and strange.
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Emily maps the wilderness and befriends Poe, a tree-dwelling brownie who bakes geothermal bread. She also observes the damage left by the courtly fae through Aud’s niece Auður, who was returned hollow and follows only direct orders.
The routine ends when Dr. Wendell Bambleby arrives with students Lizzie and Henry.
Emily has long suspected that Bambleby is not human. Poe reacts with terror, and Emily learns that Bambleby is an exiled faerie prince from Silva Lupi. His stepmother killed his siblings and banished him to the mortal world.
Emily also investigates Mord and Aslaug’s farm, where their son Ari was replaced by a changeling named Aðlinduri.
Emily uses a cold iron nail to interrogate Aðlinduri and learns about the forest. She and Bambleby search for a white tree in Karrðarskogur. The tree’s roots attack Bambleby, forcing him to step through the landscape, which confirms his faerie nature.
The courtly fae abduct woodcutter Lilja and her sweetheart Margret. Emily and Bambleby enter the mountain wastes, battle bogles, and infiltrate a frozen lake fair.
Emily rescues the girls with her enchanted cloak, but the Hidden King places an ice-ring spell on her.
Back in Hrafnsvik, Emily cuts off her own enchanted third finger to break the spell. She then travels to the white tree and releases the Hidden King with a Word of Power. The King takes her to his ice palace and plunges Ljosland into a fifty-foot winter.
Bambleby transforms into a small oíche sidhe using his grandmother’s sprite blood. He finds Emily and coordinates with villagers who arrive as gift-givers.
They smuggle in sleeping poison, and the Hidden King’s first queen stabs him to death.
The true Ari is restored to Mord and Aslaug. The winter ends, and the villagers welcome Emily as family. Bambleby proposes marriage, but Emily says she must think about it.
The novel ends as they return to Cambridge and present their findings in Paris.
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Summary by Chapter
Spoilers below.
Arrival and Fieldwork Beginnings (Chapters 1–7 / Oct 20–Oct 28)
Emily settles into a turf-roofed cottage in Hrafnsvik and begins mapping the land. She forms a trade-based relationship with Poe, the tree brownie. A breach of hospitality customs with Aud Hallasdottir leaves Emily socially isolated.
Unwelcome Guests and the Farmstead Changeling (Chapters 8–15 / Oct 29–Nov 14)
Bambleby and his students arrive and quickly charm the village. Emily discovers that Mord and Aslaug’s son was replaced by Aðlinduri, a cruel courtly changeling. Through Poe and Aðlinduri, Emily learns Bambleby is an exiled faerie prince from Ireland.
The White Tree Expedition and Unleashed Magic (Chapters 16–20 / Nov 15–Nov 20)
Emily and Bambleby search for a white tree in Karrðarskogur forest. The tree’s roots attack Bambleby, forcing him to use faerie magic to escape. Emily pulls him back to safety, but powerful magic remains.
The Abduction and the Wild Expedition (Chapters 21–25 / Nov 22–Nov 26)
Lilja and Margret are taken by the courtly fae. Emily and Bambleby rescue them from a frozen lake fair, but Emily falls under an ice-ring enchantment from the Hidden King.
Cold Covenants and the Ice Palace Captivity (Chapters 26–31 / Dec 2–Jan 30)
Emily cuts off her own enchanted finger to break the spell. She releases the Hidden King from the white tree using an ancient Word of Power. The King takes her to his ice palace and plunges Ljosland into endless winter.
The Coordinated Escape and the Paris Conference (Chapters 32–37 / Jan 30–Feb 13)
Bambleby transforms into a household sprite and coordinates with the villagers.
They smuggle sleeping poison into the ice palace, and the King’s first queen kills him. Ari is restored, the winter lifts, and Bambleby proposes before they return to Cambridge.
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Characters In This Book
- Emily Wilde: Cambridge professor of dryadology and narrator completing an encyclopaedia of faeries.
- Wendell Bambleby: Emily’s colleague and rival, secretly an exiled faerie prince from Silva Lupi.
- Shadow: Emily’s massive boarhound, secretly a Black Hound or Church Grim.
- Poe: A tree-dwelling brownie who trades geothermal bread for clothes and sweets.
- Poe’s Wife: A brownie woman who marries Poe and helps maintain his white aspen tree.
- Krystjan Egilson: Farmer from whom Emily rents her stone cottage.
- Finn Krystjanson: Krystjan’s son who assists Emily with chores and local customs.
- Aud Hallasdottir: Village headwoman of Hrafnsvik who later helps coordinate Emily’s rescue.
- Ulfar: Aud’s husband and tavern keeper who helps rescue Emily.
- Thora Gudridsdottir: Elderly grandmother who reads academic papers and aids the rescue.
- Auður: Aud’s niece, returned hollow by the courtly fae.
- Lilja Johannasdottir: Village woodcutter briefly abducted by the courtly fae.
- Margret: Lilja’s sweetheart, rescued from the faerie fair.
- Mord Samson: Goat farmer whose son was stolen by the courtly fae.
- Aslaug: Mord’s wife, reunited with her son at the end.
- Ari: Mord and Aslaug’s human son, returned from the faerie realm.
- Aðlinduri: The cruel courtly changeling who replaced Ari.
- Lizzie and Henry: Bambleby’s dryadology students who later flee to London.
- The Hidden King: Ancient exiled faerie king trapped in a white birch tree.
- The Former Queen: The Hidden King’s first wife who stabs him to death.
- Johanna: Lilja’s grieving mother.
Similar Books to Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke: Historical fantasy with an academic tone, footnotes, and dangerous faeries.
A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan: First-person memoir of a female scientist studying magical creatures in remote places.
Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik: Harsh winter setting and bargains with cold, inhuman winter powers.
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black: Courtly faerie politics and dangerous bargains between mortals and faerie royalty.
Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater: Cozy historical fantasy mixing faerie bargains with social manners and romance.
Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett: The next book in the Emily Wilde series, continuing the same narrator and faerie scholarship.
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