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Synopsis
From the creator of FAIRIE-ALITY, an eerie tale-within-a-tale weaves stunning photographs into a thrilling, time-shifting mystery that leaves readers questioning what is real.
Some say the English Downs are haunted by fairy creatures — and that those who find a flint stone with a hole through it can look into the fairies' realm. It is just such a stone that leads photographer David Ellwand on a dark journey to the past, one that starts with a musty wooden chest and a nineteenth-century journal and ends with a disappearance as sudden as a vintage camera's flash. In this journal-within-a-journal, illustrated by Ellwand's exquisite photographs, lies a tale of archaeologists and fairies, human hubris and otherworldly revenge, the magic of the natural world and the mystery of the imagination.
VOYA
British photographer Ellwand injects himself into a piece of faux-nonfiction that deals with faeries and, not surprisingly, photography. While out walking the South Downs, he finds the ruin of a house in which he discovers a locked trunk. Unable to resist, he takes the trunk home and pries it open. Inside are the journals, photographs, recordings, and creations of nineteenth-century photographer Isaac Wilde. The volume switches from Ellwand's journal entries to a transcription of a recording made by Wilde. Wilde recounts his part in an archaeological dig in the area. Having had some success as a photographer, Wilde meets Dr. Gibson Gayle and signs on to document the doctor's excavation of Barrow Hill. While covering the dig, Wilde finds he can see into the world of "pixies" by looking through flints with natural holes in them. He tries to photograph the spirits. Even after he is successful, no one will believe him. The destructive, non-believing Dr. Gayle, vanishes when he manipulates a pixie construct; Wilde hides the device, but his journal ends there. Ellwand reconstructs the device and "Once you've looked through the vanisher, it's never the same.o Ellwand's (and Wilde's) spooky sepia photographs and the "documentation" of the artifacts will appeal to fans of Ellwand's Fairie-ality (Candlewick, 2002/VOYA August 2003). This gentle "Spiderwicke meets the Blair Witch" tale is worth the time, but it will take pushing to get it checked out to young teens who are interested in things faerie. Reviewer: Timothy Capehart