Sure, there are dépanneurs, chip trucks, and that cozy small-town feel – but there’s also an evil fairy lurking deep in the woods, trying to steal your children.

McDougall’s latest book, called Black Annis Year, is the first in her new series written in an emerging genre called cozy fantasy, which she describes as “macaroni and cheese in book form” because of its character-driven narrative focused on finding joy in the everyday.

She said the series, called The Fair Folk of Mullarkey Mills, is set in a fictional world inspired by Shawville and the Pontiac, and weaves small-town life together with elements of fantasy.

The first book recounts a year in the life of a grieving widow who must learn to care for her late husband’s rescue animals, including an old plow horse with health issues. “The horse falls, and the whole community rallies around to help,” McDougall explained.

But soon enough, the widow Elena realizes the forest next to her hobby farm isn’t a regular forest; it’s actually haunted by a dark, evil fairy, with wooden teeth who threatens to kidnap anyone who lives nearby.

“She discovers that there’s this blight in the woods that’s taking over, and she doesn’t know what it is, and it turns out there’s a dark faerie living in there,” she said, adding that the fairy is adapted from a character in British folklore.

“The story is that she had these big wooden teeth, and you could hear her grinding them, and that’s when you need to lock your doors,” she said. “If you left your windows open she would reach in and take your baby from the cradle and eat her.”

Without revealing too much, McDougall said the fairy situation helps the main character move on from the grief of loss.

“As she’s dealing with the horse, it helps her deal with her grief, and also dealing with the dark fairy helps her come out of herself again,” she said.

She said some of the locations in her books are based on specific locations in the Pontiac, while others are more generic.

“There’s elements of all the little towns, like there’s an old water mill that I based on the one in Quyon,” she said.

McDougall, who has written two series before finishing this one, said she has been wanting to write this style of fantasy for a while.

“There are a gazillion retellings of Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella, and I’m bored with those,” she said. “I like to search out the lesser-known fairy stories.”

She said the release of the book is good timing, because the genre has been growing in popularity. “The world is on fire and people don’t need high-stakes drama in their books right now. They need comfort,” she said of why she thinks the genre has taken off.

McDougall has been a full-time author since 2020. She self-publishes her books and is currently trying to finish the cozy fantasy series while also starting another epic series complete with dragons and battles. She expects she will finish another book before the end of the year.

Black Annis Year will be available on Amazon and other online retailers, and she said it may be available at local retailers as well.

Register or subscribe to read this content

Thanks for stopping by! This article is available to readers who have created a free account or who subscribe to The Equity.

When you register for free with your email, you get access to a limited number of stories at no cost. Subscribers enjoy unlimited access to everything we publish—and directly support quality local journalism here in the Pontiac.

Register or Subscribe Today!