Ripening'Fairy tales matter because at the heart of every one of them is transformation.' In a world in which all the old certainties seem to be crumbling, it's hard not to feel we have lost our way. In Ripening, Sharon Blackie insists that fairy tales are precisely the stories we need for such times. Long before they became bywords for people pleasing princesses, these old stories passed down to us through generations by our peasant ancestors told us

Only the Order of Justices stands in the way of chaos

But trouble is brewing among the hills and woodlands of the Great Plain

So what if there are nannies and producers and industrial-grade ovens behind the scenes

Dragonfly Farm has been a home and a haven for generations of Melchiors - arch rivals to the Culbones

Along the way we explore the Salem Witch Trials and sleep paralysis

can Samson O'Brien and Delilah Metcalfe find him

improve and repair our relationships with others and foster a culture of contemplation

the storks and frogs

her ancestors began appearing in her dreams

'A triumph' PHILIP PULLMAN

But the new High King does everything in his power to humiliate and undermine her

Saturday 5th September