A Tale Dark and Grim is a mashup and retelling of several Grimm Brothers fairytales which Gidwitz has interwoven to create a new narrative. The Grimm brothers, Wilhelm (1786–1859) and Jacob (1785–1863), were German authors and philosophers who collected and popularized fairy-tale stories, including well-known tales such as “Cinderella” and “Rapunzel,” as well as lesser-known stories like “The Two Brothers” and “The Girl Without Hands.” The Grimm versions of these stories have persisted for over 200 years, inspiring films by the Walt Disney Studios and being used as propaganda by Nazi Germany during World War II. The original Grimm tales contained violence and cruelty, particularly toward women and children, aspects that Gidwitz explores in A Tale Dark and Grimm.

A Tale Dark and Grimm follows Hansel and Gretel, characters from the Grimm tale of the same name, through both their own well-known story of getting trapped by a witch in her gingerbread house and several lesser-known tales: “Faithful Johannes” (sometimes called “Trusty John”), “The Seven Ravens” (rendered by Gidwitz as “The Seven Swallows”), “The Brother and Sister,” “The Robber Bridegroom” (contained in the chapter titled “A Smile as Red as Blood”), and “The Devil With the Three Golden Hairs” (contained in the chapter titled “The Three Golden Hairs”).