A Prospect Magazine 'What to Read This April'"Young…offers us a complete history of fairy belief, globally and through all recorded time… a feast of data and ideas, delivered with beautiful clarity."The Times Literary Supplement"[Young] enjoys an intimate acquaintance with Old World eeriness, and evinces sophisticated understandings of the contradictory ways Christianity has handled vernacular beliefs in entities other than angels and demons. He is rigorous, yet respectful of 'old believers' of all ages and faiths. It is, he reminds us, arrogant to treat Christianity with academic seriousness yet scorn equally plausible or at least sincere folk beliefs."The Spectator"Fairies' tenacious refusal to disappear is living history in action."Prospect Magazine"This comprehensively researched book covers everything even the most dedicated fairy follower could want to discover."The Critic"Glorious"Rod Liddle, Times Radio"An earnest and deeply researched history of ideas"The Dispatch"Soberly anthropological and accessible to those of us who remain fairy-agnostic or even outright fairy deniers… One feels indebted to Francis Young for directing our gaze back to this much-needed looking glass."First Things"How did fairies fit into peoples' worldviews? What place did they take within a largely Christian cosmology? Where did they rank among the devils, the angels and the demons? This book is an excellent place to find out."Unseen Histories"Who are the fairies? In this brilliant, ambitious book, Francis Young surveys the fairy question over 2,000 years of European history. With something of the angel about them and something of the wild, fairies were always morally ambiguous. If they seem to have departed, it is not because we know better, but because we have chosen to see differently." Jeremy Harte, author of Cloven Country: The Devil and the English Landscape and Fairy Encounters in Medieval England"Francis Young offers us a history of fairies from prehistoric godlings to neo-pagan darlings. Particularly interesting is the internationalization of a British reflex of the social supernatural via photography, film, and children's literature. Fairies proves a worthy successor to Young's earlier and provocative Twilight of the Godlings." Simon Young, author of Magical Folk: British and Irish Fairies, 500 AD to the Present"Dr Francis Young's history of fairies in Europe, the Americas, and Australasia is a richly rewarding journey through folklore, theology, and cultural memory to the present day, tracking the elusive, ever-shifting presence of fairies. A fascinating, comprehensive, and thoroughly enjoyable exploration which invites us to reconsider our perception of the world."Jo Hickey-Hall, folklorist, author, and host of the Modern Fairy Sightings podcast"There is no shortage of books on fairies, but Young has written a must-read, wide-ranging survey. The book is original in its approach and impressive in its scope. Young shows how fairy history has much to tell us about religion, culture, and the human condition." Owen Davies, University of Hertfordshire"A worthy addition to anyone's library."Alex Hughes, Open Graves, Open Minds"This fascinating and formidably well-researched book has completely changed my view of fairies."Church Times
