The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert

The Hazel Wood (Hazel Wood, #1)

by Melissa Albert

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One of The Observer's Best Children's Books of 2018!

Fans of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and The Children of Blood and Bone have been getting lost in The Hazel Wood...


"The Hazel Wood kept me up all night. I had every light burning and the covers pulled tight around me as I fell completely into the dark and beautiful world within its pages. Terrifying, magical, and surprisingly funny, it's one of the very best books I've read in years". -Jennifer Niven, author of All The Bright Places

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Seventeen-year-old Alice and her mother have spent most of Alice's life on the road, always a step ahead of the strange bad luck biting at their heels.

But when Alice's grandmother, the reclusive author of a book of pitch-dark fairy tales, dies alone on her estate - the Hazel Wood - Alice learns how bad her luck can really get.

Her mother is stolen, by a figure who claims to come from the cruel supernatural world from her grandmother's stories.

Alice's only lead is the message her mother left behind: STAY AWAY FROM THE HAZEL WOOD.

To retrieve her mother, Alice must venture first to the Hazel Wood, then into the world where her grandmother's tales began . . .

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"This book will be your next obsession. Welcome to the Hazel Wood, where bad luck is a living thing, princesses are doomed, and every page contains a wondrously terrible adventure - it's not safe inside these pages, but once you enter, you may never want to leave." - Stephanie Garber, New York Times bestselling author of Caraval

"Realism and fantasy blue in this strange and bewitching tale" The Observer

Melissa Albert has created a world as dark, twisted and magical as Alice in Wonderland or Harry Potter. Will you escape the Hazel Wood?

Reviewed by dragononabook on

3 of 5 stars

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I stayed up much too late reading this book, but it was the perfect balance between 'just creepy enough to keep me reading' and 'this is too creepy, abort mission'. At times the plot felt a little bit clumsy or the writing didn't flow as well, but overall it was an interesting take on fairytales being brought to life, especially since we know as much about them as Alice does, which is to say, not very much.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 16 January, 2019: Finished reading
  • 16 January, 2019: Reviewed