Tuesday, June 26, 2018

The children of the children in "Fairy Spell"

The two girls at the center of my book Fairy Spell: How Two Girls Convinced the World That Fairies Are Real are Frances and her cousin Elsie; the story starts in 1917 when they were, respectively, 9 and 16 years old. Frances passed away in 1986 and Elsie two years later.

Their children have been nothing but receptive to the book; as far as I can tell, it is the first picture book (in any country) on the subject. They agreed to pose with the copy I sent to them in the UK, and further agreed to let me post the photos here.

 Christine Lynch (Frances's daughter), age 87

Glenn Hill (Elsie's only child), age 83

Chris added a charming footnote: "I plan to send [a copy] to little Princess Charlotte with a note saying it is from the daughter of the little girl in the [fairy photo]. A few years ago, I sent a book we published to Prince Charles and got a reply from his Private Secretary with a message from Charles himself—so you never know. It is such an English story that Kate might know it and might read your book to her."

I thanked her and said that I'm, of course, madly eager to see if we do get a response (even though I am not one of those who woke up crazy early to watch the latest—or any—royal wedding). But I made one small request: I asked Chris to address the book to all three children in the family—Charlotte and her brothers George and Louis. Fairies—and stories—are for everyone.

She cheerfully agreed to that, too.

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