Tales like as "Cinderella," "Hansel and Gretel," "Beauty and the Beast," and "Baba Yaga" are so ingrained in our culture that it may come as a surprise to learn that these canonical stories have identifiable authors. In this enthralling book, Nicholas Jubber unearths the lives of these forgotten men and women, including a German apothecary's daughter, a Syrian youth, and a Russian dissident embroiled in a plot to kill the tsar. In the process, Jubber offers a fresh perspective on some of our most frequently told tales.