The Cottingley Secret is an enchanting story that blends historical fiction and saga with touches of magic and romance. It’s the fourth book by author Hazel Gaynor who is New York Times bestselling novelist and published by HarperCollins.
Hazel Gaynor credit Deasy Photographic
The Plot
Inspired by events from a hundred years ago the book is spilt across two time periods. From 1917 we follow the story of nine-year-old Frances Griffiths newly arrived from South Africa to live in Yorkshire with her mother’s family whilst her father fights in the First World War. She becomes the best of friends with her sixteen-year-old cousin Elsie Wright. Do the girls really discover fairies at the bottom of the garden by the beck? Their secret world soon comes public after the cousins claim to have photographed real fairies and even attract the attention and authentication of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
In the present day runaway fiancée Olivia Kavanagh has inherited her grandfather’s second-hand bookshop in a small Irish harbour town. On discovering Frances’s manuscript Olivia uncovers not only the story of the Frances and Elsie, but her own family. The two tales slowly intertwine and take root in the imagination like the mysterious fairy garden in the bookshop window box that seems to grow as if by magic.
A Charming Tale
Beautifully written historical fiction blends with discovering new paths after loss and opening up oneself to the magic within. The Cottingley Fairies is famous story but it was exciting to look at it from not only the perspective of the girls but of Olivia who is searching for answers and trying to carve out a new life for herself from grief and disappointed.
Hazel Gaynor interviewed Frances’s daughter Christine Lynch as part of her research for the book. During their long talks Christine told Hazel Gaynor all about the book her mother had always wanted to write. The family historical research comes through as events unfold between 1917 and 1921. After the First World War the need for children and adults to escape the horrors, and the willingness to believe there is more in heaven and earth is a powerful instinct in human beings. Our desire to create meaning from chaos, to believe tomorrow will be better than today is a strong theme for all the characters in the book whether they’re fact or fiction, or living a hundred years ago or today.
The fictional characters of Ellen, Martha and Olivia are very well created and their connection to the Cottingley story takes it beyond history into a more fascinating world. They become the way to explore the story from different perspectives, making each discovery of family secrets more exciting. I really enjoyed the moments with Olivia in the Something Old bookshop on Little Lane, it was charming place to escape to, especially if you do believe in fairies.
Reviewed by Author Amy Beeson
More About The Author, Hazel Gaynor
Hazel Gaynor is a New York Times bestselling, award-winning historical novelist, who lives in County Kildare, Ireland with her husband and two children. Her 2014 debut historical novel The Girl Who Came Home—A Novel of the Titanic hit the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists, and went on to win the 2015 Historical Novel of the Year award from the Romantic Novelists’ Association in London. Her second novel A Memory of Violets, was also a New York Times bestseller, and her third, The Girl from The Savoy was an Irish Times and Globe & Mail bestseller, and finalist for the 2016 Irish Book Awards. Her releases in 2017 – The Cottingley Secret and Last Christmas in Paris (co-written with Heather Webb) both hit the Canadian Globe & Mail bestseller list.
In autumn 2018, Hazel will release The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter, a novel inspired by the true events surrounding the life of Victorian lighthouse keeper, Grace Darling.