The Hidden People is a historical fantasy and horror novel by English writer Alison Littlewood, first published in October 2016 in the United Kingdom by Jo Fletcher Books.

It is based on the 1895 incident in County Tipperary, Ireland, where Bridget Cleary was burnt alive by her husband, who believed she was a fairy changeling.

The Hidden People is based on the 1895[a] incident in Clonmel, County Tipperary in Ireland where Bridget Cleary, an Irish dressmaker, was burnt alive by her husband because he maintained that fairies had abducted her and replaced her with a changeling.

[11] She researched Albie's "Victorian-esque" way of speaking and Yorkshire's historical language, plus many aspects of Victorian life, including folklore of the era.

"[10] The short story she wrote was "The Mystery of the Red City",[12][b] and it prompted Littlewood to try her hand at a historical novel set in Victorian times.

[10] In a review of The Hidden People for the British Fantasy Society, Richard Webb wrote that the central theme of the book is whether fairies and their mischievous magic exist or not.

[13] Albie is the "archetypal Victorian Gentleman", and is "priggish, uptight and insecure" with "little inkling of his privilege or his patronising attitude towards both the rural community and his wife".

"[13] British speculative fiction writer Nina Allan said that The Hidden People's narrative and plot are meticulously constructed, and the ending leaves it "satisfyingly open-ended".

[8] Allan characterised Lizzie and Helena's relationships with their husbands as mirrors of the status of all women in Victorian society, namely that they must be "pliable, pleasant, unobtrusive" and seek "guidance and support" from men.

[14] He said the book "isn't the easiest of reads", and the Yorkshire dialect "makes it doubly difficult", but added that the author's use of period English and the inclusion of the quaint language of Halfoak "does wonders for [the novel's] sense of place and time".

[4] John Scalzi also received a Dragon nomination for his novel The Collapsing Empire, and he too requested that it be withdrawn, stating that voters were "trying to use the book and me as a prop ... to advance a manufactured 'us vs. them' vote-pumping narrative based on ideology or whatever".