Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries (2023) is an adult cozy fantasy romance by Heather Fawcett. The novel follows Professor Emily Wilde as she traverses into the wilderness of the most isolated countries of Scandinavia to compile an unprecedented encyclopedia of faeries, including entries on the Hidden Ones—the most elusive faerie species in the world. Heather Fawcett is a New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author of books for adults, teens, and children. Her books have been translated into more than a dozen languages.

This guide refers to the hardback edition published by Del Rey in 2023.

Plot Summary

Cambridge professor Emily Wilde journeys to Hrafnsvik, Ljosland, alongside her faerie-dog Shadow to research an elusive species of faerie called the “Hidden Ones” to complete the final entry in her faerie encyclopedia, for which she’s spent nine years compiling evidence.

Emily is provided a small cottage by a local townsperson and promptly receives a letter from her coworker, Wendell Bambleby—a begrudging friend and rival coworker whom she suspects is secretly a banished courtly faerie of the Irish Folk. Wendell’s letter expresses his concern for her safety before hinting at his impending arrival.  

Emily finds a hot spring in the forest behind the cottage, where she leaves an offering for the local, minor faeries, or “Brownies.” Afterward, she socializes with the townspeople at the local tavern. Though Emily hates socializing, it is imperative for her research, as she must compile firsthand accounts of their interactions with the region’s faeries. Emily meets a beautiful woman named Lilja and the village headwoman, Aud. Emily offends Aud by not accepting her offer to pay for Emily’s dinner, though Emily does not realize this in the moment. Days later, Emily returns to the hot spring and meets a small faerie named Poe, who promises to bake her fresh bread in exchange for a beaver skin. In town, Emily discovers a malevolent changeling child, once taken and possessed by Fae, terrorizing its human parents, Mord and Aslaug Samson.

Wendell arrives uninvited and moves into the cottage with his two students, Henry and Lizzie. Wendell offers to assist Emily’s research and invites her to the prestigious International Conference of Dryadology and Experimental Folklore (ICODEF). He hopes to present their findings at the conference and gain financial support from those they impress.

Emily visits the haunted home of the changeling child while Wendell introduces himself to the locals. The changeling, a faerie possessing the body of Ari, does his best to terrorize Emily, but her knowledge of the fae makes her less susceptible to his enchantments, including terrifying illusions. Emily attempts interrogating Ari, but he yields nothing. Emily visits Poe afterward, who is spooked after a visit from Wendell. Poe reveals that Wendell is a prince and has been asking questions about local faerie doors, piquing Emily’s curiosity and solidifying her suspicions about Wendell.  

Wendell charms the locals easily and has dalliances with many women. When Emily requests he visit the changeling for information, he brings along Henry and Lizzie, who are traumatized by the experience. Henry and Lizzie soon flee back to Cambridge. In their absence, Wendell decorates the cottage to make it cozier. When Emily attempts to chop firewood for the freezing cottage, she accidentally slices through Wendell’s arm with the iron axe. She accepts Aud’s help in tending to his wounds, officially regaining Aud’s favor after offending her. When human remedies don’t ease Wendell’s condition, Emily resorts to the stories she knows of the Irish Folk and concocts a remedy from a nearby red willow tree, which also grows in Ireland. The remedy works, proving to Emily and Aud that Wendell is truly a faerie.

The townspeople warm to Emily after Wendell’s accident and she makes progress with her research, which reveals that townspeople have been stolen more frequently in recent winters by the Hidden Ones. Many of the local stories she collects speak of a white tree imprisoning an ancient faerie king, which Emily plans to seek out despite Wendell’s protests. When Emily and Wendell find the white tree, one of its leaves accidentally brushes her fingertip and she feels an enchantment take hold. The enchantment prevents her from telling Wendell about its existence, proving worrisome. The tree’s roots attempt dragging Wendell toward it, forcing him to use his faerie powers of teleportation out in the open, revealing himself entirely to Emily.

Wendell informs Emily that he’s a faerie king of the Irish Folk, from a realm called Silva Lupi. His stepmother killed his eldest siblings and exiled him so her biological son may take the throne. He has spent a decade searching for a secret back door into his world, so that he may kill her and retake his throne. Emily offers to help Wendell find his door.

The white tree’s enchantment grows stronger and Emily doesn’t know how much longer she can resist its pull. When Emily next visits Poe, his tree has been burned by the Hidden Ones. She finds Poe lost in the forest and helps him find his way home in return for answers to three questions. When she returns to town, she discovers Lilja and her girlfriend, Margret, were taken by the Hidden Ones in the night. Emily convinces Wendell to help her save the women and they visit Poe before departing on their quest. Emily asks Poe two of her questions but saves her third for later. His answers reveal that the women are where the aurora bleeds white and that the Hidden Ones fear fire.

While taking a restroom break one night on their journey, Emily is surrounded by carnivorous bogle faeries. She only knows two Words of Power—magical words capable of enchantments and control over fae. One is for retrieving buttons and another for enacting temporary invisibility. She employs the latter and before the enchantment wears off, calls for Wendell, who slaughters the bogles easily.

One morning, while Wendell still sleeps, Emily sees the aurora bleeding white and abandons the camp. Shadow leads Emily to a faerie door, where she enters the realm of the Hidden Ones. She emerges in a faerie market and is forced to trade cloaks with a faerie man, who gives her a white fur cloak with pockets that provide her with whatever she needs. Emily finds Lilja and Margret, breaking them from their enchantments. They flee the market in search of a door out of the realm. After hours of fruitless searching, they stop to rest while Shadow continues.

Shadow finds a door into the human realm, where he retrieves Wendell. Unable to find the door back in, Wendell rips a hole in the realm with his power to gain entrance. When he finds the women, he is attacked by the faerie man who stole Emily’s cloak. Emily uses her knowledge of Irish faerie stories to forge a sword out of her tears, which Wendell uses to fell his attacker. They return to Hrafnsvik, where everyone learns of Wendell’s faerie identity and Emily continues to study the pattern of missing townspeople.

Emily suspects the changeling child acts as a beacon, drawing the Hidden Ones to town. With Wendell’s help, she learns the changeling’s true name and banishes it back to the forest, where they meet his true mother. His mother reveals that since their benevolent old king was trapped in the tree by the cruel current queen, faeries have been allowed to steal humans from their towns. Emily and Wendell receive the real Ari in return for the changeling and return the child to Mord and Aslaug.

Wendell professes his love for Emily and proposes to her. While she reciprocates his feelings, she is overwhelmed and doesn’t yet respond to his offer of marriage. Meanwhile, the enchantment takes hold of Emily, and she must cut off her affected finger to break it. She visits Poe and asks her third question. Poe reveals that the king became imprisoned in the tree after the queen buttoned him up in a cloak woven from all the seasons and cut winter out of it. Emily ventures to the white tree and uses her Word of Power that retrieves buttons to free the Hidden king, who decides to marry her despite her protests.

He summons an ice castle she is forbidden from leaving and brings avalanches and deadly cold to the human towns in the region. As the Folk begin to prepare for Emily’s wedding, Wendell sneaks in disguised as a tailor. He details a plan the townspeople of Hrafnsvik have concocted to rescue her during the upcoming gift-giving ceremony. Emily’s part of the plan is to poison the wine they’ll gift to the king.

When the day comes, Emily can’t bring herself to poison the king’s wine, as it doesn’t feel like the end of a true faerie story. The faerie queen infiltrates the ceremony regardless, causing enough chaos for Wendell, Aud, and a few other townspeople to rescue Emily. In the days after, Aud brings news that the Hidden king believes Emily to be dead and has promised to end the deep snows he’s brought to the human towns. Emily enjoys a farewell party with the townspeople before departing with Wendell to present their findings at the ICODEF.