Often drawing on myths handed down orally through the world’s various different cultures, fairy tales feature a number of recognisable formulae and character ‘types’. A ‘fairy-tale’ ending is meant to imply a happy ending to a story, however this isn’t always the case, and often a fairy tale evokes a complex moral lesson.

Where the story focuses on the activities and histories of one or more families, shown over time, often related in a series of lined novels, dealing with different periods in the family’s history.