Every reader has a particular flavour of story they return to time and time again. For me, it’s the kind of fantasy where the world looks perfectly normal on the surface until you tilt your head, peer into the shadows, or do a double take. That’s when you realise something’s just a little bit off and strange.

I’m not talking about grand, dramatic, sweeping magic or worlds that announce themselves with dragons or destiny. No, I’m drawn to the more subtle magic that lives in the cracks, the corners, and the forgotten places. This is the kind of weirdness that you could walk past every day without ever knowing it’s there.

Here are some of my favourite reads that capture that hidden beneath the surface magic I love so much.

My Top 6 reads that reveal magic beneath the everyday

Weaveworld by Clive Barker

This is a classic of the hidden world tradition. Magic isn’t in a distant realm, but woven into a carpet, tucked away in plain sight. The ordinary becomes extraordinary simply because someone finally notices. This read is lush, strange, and full of that sense of creeping discovery that Clive Barker does so well.

Magic Kingdom for Sale—Sold! by Terry Brooks

It begins with something as ordinary as a mail order catalogue and spirals into a secret kingdom. The contrast between the everyday and the magical makes the discovery feel wonderfully possible, as if the extraordinary might be hiding in the most unremarkable of places.

The Crow Folk by Mark Stay

This read is set in a cosy English village during World War 2. It all seems perfectly normal to begin with, but an uncanny threat is stirring in the fields. The magic feels local and lived‑in, part of the landscape rather than separate from it.

The Women Could Fly by Megan Giddings

This is a modern world that feels familiar and yet is threaded with witchcraft, suspicion, and secret histories. The magic here is cultural and political as much as supernatural. What’s hidden isn’t just a place, but a truth that most people in the world of the novel try to ignore.

Fairytale by Stephen King

This novel starts in a very grounded, ordinary way. A boy comes to the aid of an elderly neighbour and his dog. The truth that there’s something a little strange going on creeps up on the reader. The reveal works because the real world is so solid. Who knew a garden shed could be this scary or hold such potential for discovery?

The Hiding by Alethea Lyons

This is another world that seems just like ours to begin with. Set in the city I grew up in, this is a retelling of that place, a modern version but with shadows, secrets, and supernatural forces just out of sight. Something is creeping up beneath the surface of the everyday and committing unexplained murders.

Why these stories stay with me

All of these books are grounded in the ordinary, the familiar, and the life and people we take for granted. They ground us on what we assume is a secure footing before revealing the magic and otherness. These reads unsettle us in the realisation that something odd and eerie is closer than we thought.

As an only child, I did a lot of reading. I wasn’t neglected – my parents were wonderful people – but I was left to my own devices and imagination quite a lot. I saw magical beasties in the long, shifting grasses, peered into shadows for watching eyes, and imagined that odd or abandoned paths might lead somewhere unexpected and fantastical.

That feeling of the extraordinary seeping into the mundane has always appealed to me. The idea that you could open a door and end up somewhere impossible or find a mystical device in a pile of junk has not only shaped my writing but kept the child in me alive too.

And yes, this leads to my own storytelling

It’s no surprise that this is the kind of fantasy I write too. In the Haven Chronicles, the world is familiar but with a hidden magical underbelly. This isn’t a world apart, but a culture living and breathing alongside Steve Haven’s high tech existence.

Steve doesn’t stumble into magic because he’s the chosen one. He finds it because he notices and wants to know more. That’s at the heart of the stories I love. It’s the idea that the extraordinary is already there, woven into the everyday, and waiting for the right moment to be seen.

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The fantasy adventures I keep coming back to are the ones that whisper of weirdness and magic. They’re the stories that hint at the wonder and discovery I might find, if only I knew where to look.