Author guide

Alix E. Harrow Books in Order

Alix E. Harrow is an American writer and former academic historian from Kentucky who lives in Virginia. Her fiction spans fantasy, science fiction, historical fantasy, gothic fiction, fairy-tale retellings, and speculative short fiction. She is the Hugo Award-winning author of A Witch's Guide to Escape and the bestselling novelist of The Ten Thousand Doors of January, The Once and Future Witches, Starling House, and The Everlasting.

fantasyscience fictionspeculative fictionhistorical fantasygothic fictionfairy-tale retellings

Catalog record updated August 25, 2026.

Alix E. Harrow's Newest Book

The Everlasting

novel · First published 2025

Sir Una Everlasting was Dominion’s greatest hero: the orphaned girl who became a knight, who died for queen and country. Her legend lives on in songs and stories, in children’s books and recruiting posters―but her life as it truly happened has been forgotten. Centuries later, Owen Mallory―failed soldier, struggling scholar―falls in love with the tale of Una Everlasting. Her story takes him to war, to the archives―and then into the past itself. Una and Owen are tangled together in time, bound to retell the same story over and over again, no matter what it costs. But that story always ends the same way. If they want to rewrite Una’s legend―if they want to tell a different story--they’ll have to rewrite history itself.

Not sure where to begin?

Start with one of these

The Ten Thousand Doors of January

A standalone debut novel and an accessible introduction to Harrow's themes and storytelling style.

A Spindle Splintered

A concise standalone novella and the first entry in Fractured Fables.

Read in order

Books by series

novella series · complete

Fractured Fables

A complete series of queer, multiverse fairy-tale retellings following Zinnia Gray as she helps story-bound women rewrite their endings.

Series guide →

1
A Spindle Splintered
Book 1 · novella · 2021

It's Zinnia Gray's twenty-first birthday, which is extra-special because it's the last birthday she'll ever have. When she was young, an industrial accident left Zinnia with a rare condition. Not much is known about her illness, just that…
2
A Mirror Mended
Book 2 · novella · 2022

Zinnia Gray, professional fairy-tale fixer and lapsed Sleeping Beauty is over rescuing snoring princesses. Once you’ve rescued a dozen damsels and burned fifty spindles, once you’ve gotten drunk with twenty good fairies and made out with…

multi author short fiction series · complete

Into Shadow

A completed multi-author series of dark-fantasy Amazon Original Stories; Harrow's contribution is the third title.

Series guide →

3
The Six Deaths of the Saint
Book 3 · short_story · 2022

The Saint of War spares the life of a servant girl so she can fulfill her destiny as the kingdom’s greatest warrior in this short story of love and loyalty by New York Times bestselling author Alix E. Harrow. Always mindful of the debt…

Outside the series

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Novels (4)

The Ten Thousand Doors of January
novel · 2019

In a sprawling mansion filled with peculiar treasures, January Scaller is a curiosity herself. As the ward of the wealthy Mr. Locke, she feels little different from the artifacts that decorate the halls: carefully maintained, largely…
The Once and Future Witches
novel · 2020

In 1893, there's no such thing as witches. There used to be, in the wild, dark days before the burnings began, but now witching is nothing but tidy charms and nursery rhymes. If the modern woman wants any measure of power, she must find…
Starling House
novel · 2023

I dream sometimes about a house I’ve never seen…. Opal is a lot of things―orphan, high school dropout, full-time cynic and part-time cashier―but above all, she's determined to find a better life for her younger brother Jasper. One that…
The Everlasting
novel · 2025

Sir Una Everlasting was Dominion’s greatest hero: the orphaned girl who became a knight, who died for queen and country. Her legend lives on in songs and stories, in children’s books and recruiting posters―but her life as it truly…

Short fiction (1)

The Knight and the Butcherbird
short_story · 2025

In this dystopian fairy tale from the "New York Times" bestselling author of "Starling House", a small town’s storyteller struggles to protect a local demon from the knight hired to kill it. Hundreds of years after the end of the world,…

Frequently asked questions about Alix E. Harrow

Who is Alix E. Harrow?

Alix E. Harrow is a New York Times bestselling author of speculative fiction and short fiction. She is known for imaginative stories that draw on fantasy, history, fairy tales, and questions of identity.

Source: alixeharrow.wixsite.com (opens in a new tab)

What did Alix E. Harrow do before becoming a full-time writer?

She was a former academic and adjunct, and has described herself as a part-time historian before moving into full-time writing.

Sources: events.sfwa.org (opens in a new tab)lapl.org (opens in a new tab)

Where is Alix E. Harrow from, and where does she live now?

Harrow is from Kentucky and lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, with her husband and their two children.

Source: alixeharrow.wixsite.com (opens in a new tab)

What inspired Alix E. Harrow’s fiction?

Her early love of portal fantasies such as Narnia, Oz, and Wonderland combined with graduate study of children’s literature, race, and imperialism. She has said this led her to rethink portal fantasy around justice and homecoming rather than invasion and conquest.

Source: lapl.org (opens in a new tab)

What awards has Alix E. Harrow won?

She won the 2019 Hugo Award for Best Short Story for “A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies.” She also won the 2021 British Fantasy Award’s Robert Holdstock Award for Best Fantasy Novel for The Once and Future Witches.

Sources: thehugoawards.org (opens in a new tab)britishfantasysociety.org (opens in a new tab)