The Cottingley Secret audiobook

The Cottingley Secret by Hazel Gaynor is a 2017 William Morrow Paperbacks publication. Charming and magical-This novel is based on the real events surrounding a group of photographs taken by sixteen year old Elsie Wright and her nine year old cousin, Frances Griffiths, in Cottingley, England in 1917. The photographs allegedly captured images of fairies at the Cottingley Beck, a stream where the two girls often played. The photos garnered the attention of Sherlock Holmes author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who featured the story in ‘The Strand Magazine’, in 1920. For years the public debated whether or not the photos were genuine, or if it was all a big hoax. This novel tells a fictional account of Elsie and Frances, and their adventures, alongside the current day story of Olivia Kavanagh, a woman who has come to set her grandparents affairs in order after the death of her grandfather. Olivia is engaged, with a life back in London, but after inheriting her grandfather’s bookstore, she begins to reassess her life and decides to stay and manage the bookstore, unable to bring herself to sell it. But, along with the bookshop, Olivia’s grandfather left behind a manuscript written by Frances Griffiths, in which she details what really happened back in 1917, and puts to rest, the question regarding the one photo Frances insists is the real deal. This is a delightful and fanciful accounting of Elsie and Frances' life story, and how they gave the gift of hope and a little bit of magic to people during the dark and bleak days of world war one. It is fascinating to me how people seized hold of the possibility that the fairies did indeed exist and could be captured on film. I think there is a bit of psychology behind that, with world war one raging in the background. I also enjoyed the way the story unfolded bit by bit through the eyes of Olivia, who has found the courage to rediscover her true self and in so doing, finds that maybe, just maybe, believing in fairies and magic might not be a bad thing, after all. For me, this story occasionally had a sad and bittersweet tone, but mostly it was sweet and whimsical, and I enjoyed immersing myself in the dual time lines, allowing myself to be swept away by the history and even felt a slight tingle of magic along the way, so much so, I might have become a bit of a believer, myself. Although this novel is mostly conjecture, I think the author captured the atmosphere perfectly and built an interesting story around true events. I have since done a few Google searches on the Cottingley fairies. It’s an amazing story that captured the public’s imagination for decades. I think the time and place had a lot to do with why those pictures became such a phenomenon, but that the the myth persisted as long as it did is what makes the story so captivating. Overall, I think what makes the story work, is the reminder that sometimes believing in something gives it a certain power, regardless of how fantastical, and sometimes, something fantastical can give people real hope, and that magic comes in many forms.4 stars

Click here to watch a video review of this book on my channel, From Beginning to Bookend. Equal parts enchanting tale of childhood magic and bearable story of a woman wrestling with engagement to the wrong man. Though Gaynor's prose sways from maladroit to radiant and the plot is wholly predictable, The Cottingley Secret proves a pleasant read.

I read The Girl Who Came Home by Hazel Gaynor and deeply enjoyed it. Gaynor's writing was beautiful and uplifting, even in the midst of the Titanic tragedy. The Cottingley Secret, her fourth novel, is one I want to hug, and it's going to my favorites shelf. Told in dual storylines; one story is of Olivia in present-day Ireland who's inherited the most charming bookshop, and the other is of Frances, a young girl arriving in Yorkshire during the first World War. The book was inspired by the real Frances who was in a famous group of pictures with fairies and written about by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. These pictures created quite the frenzy during war time England and around the world, at a time when believing in magic may have had an important purpose. Filled with love, fairy magic (I think fans who love the whimsy and ambience of Sarah Addison Allen and maybe even Alice Hoffman may enjoy this book), family secrets, beautiful descriptions of Yorkshire and Ireland, books, and the power of believing, I adored The Cottingley Secret. The p.s section including Author's Note, images of the famous photos, and an interview with Frances' daughter is not to be missed. I connected to the writing and found myself highlighting several quotes, and here are a few:"It breaks my heart to know that she will grow up and have to try to understand the world with all its complications and uncertainties. I hope she won't try to understand everything, and that some of the magic she knows now will stay with her." "The friend and ally who took a photograph of me in a quiet sunlit moment in one of the most perfect places I have ever known, and captured forever a young girl with wonder in her eyes and the belief in magical things in her heart."" ...as Nana always had said when she was winding a skein of wool, finding the end was the hard part. After that, all it took was patience, determination, and plenty of fresh tea in the pot." "...but because with the world still at war, we needed to believe in something better. In that moment, and perhaps for much longer, it seemed to me that the possibility of believing in fairies was more important than one little girl telling the truth."These two quotes were deeply personal to me, and I'm sure I will revisit them to reflect:"Where once she had dreaded what lay ahead, Olivia now relished the prospect of filling the empty page. Hers was a narrative she would write in her own words in her own time. She would be the mapmaker, the storyteller, the dreamer of dreams." "She had always been there, watching, waiting. To find her, all she'd had to do was believe in her." I was ecstatic to win a copy of this book from Hazel Gaynor, the author, on Facebook. The above is my unsolicited and honest review.Summer 2017 Read #23

I chose this book purely based on its cover. The Cottingley Secret by Hazel Gaynor looked gorgeous, and after seeing it all over Goodreads and thinking about the Cotswolds, I fell in love. Then I learned it doesn't take place in England, but in Ireland, as well as that it's based on a true story. Wow! Knock me over with a feather... all that said, it was a good book and I enjoyed it very much. I'd give it somewhere between a 3.5 and 4 stars rounded up.Two young girls take pictures of faeries in Ireland during World War 1. One of them is a transplant from South Africa returning because her father must fight in the war. She bonds with her cousin, they become somewhat famous for their pictures as everyone thinks it's real. Was it? In current day, a somewhat distant relative / friend (I'm being vague to not give it away) returns to the village to take care of her aging grandmother after her grandfather passes away. She's contemplating breaking off an engagement and starting life anew. The stories intertwine and we learn what really happened with the photo of the faeries.If this weren't based on a true story, I'd have said the plot was too simple. Knowing it comes from a real-life experience, it makes the book a bit better. The author created a beautiful story. The characters felt real. I enjoyed the current story more than the historical one, tho. I felt the book had some literary merit, but at times, it was repetitive and listless... yet I also found it enchanting and vivid in many other places. I think it's meant to be that way if you're not aware of or fully caught up in the true story.Gaynor's writing is quite strong and made me keep reading. I will definitely sample more of her work in the future.

Can Olivia have some connection to Elsie and Frances who lived 100 years ago? Can Olivia find it?Is the connection somewhere in the pages of the rare books in the bookshop, SOMETHING OLD, that Olivia's grandfather left her? Is it in the story she finds that leads her to believe in herself like Elsie and Frances believed in fairies?Olivia lives in present day and finds a manuscript in her grandfather's things that refers to fairies. As she reads the manuscript and deals with her unhappy life at this time, she believes her grandmother knew Frances.Olivia is excited that she inherited the bookshop, but doesn't know what to do with it. What decision will she make about the bookshop and her life? Will she decide to move to Ireland and run the bookshop and most importantly follow what will make her happy or marry the man that she realizes isn't the man she should marry?We move to 1917 and visit with Elsie and Frances who are cousins and live under the same roof since Frances moved there from South Africa while her father was called to serve in the war.Frances is a precocious child and believes she sees fairies at the beck, but no one believes her . She and Elsie get together to prove the fairies are really there, and their story becomes a sensation.THE COTTINGLEY SECRET took a few pages for me to connect, but once I got hooked and also realized that this fairy story was famous, I couldn't stop reading.I loved how the book went back and forth from 1917 to present day, and I truly enjoyed the secrets and connections between the characters from both time periods as they were revealed.Who doesn't love a book that has a bookshop in it? And who doesn't love an old bookshop with secrets and memories that might help you make personal decisions and find connections?Hazel Gaynor's books are always magical whether there is magic in them or not. And…her books are always filled with love.ENJOY!! 5/5This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation by the publisher in return for an honest review.

Do little girls still believe in magic at all? After reading The Cottingley Secret, this not-so-young-girl believed!In 1917, the Big War had just broken out when Frances Griffiths’ father joined up to “do his part.” Frances and her mother were whisked off to England to stay with relatives, including her cousin, Elsie. Obviously, Frances was young, bored, worried and sad and she often spent time alone in the beck, a clearing by the pond. It is there that she first saw the faeries. Of course, no one believed her at first, not even Elsie, perhaps not even you. But after a time she decided she should photograph these faeries to convince her family that they were, in fact, real. The rest, as they say, is history. The very real Sir Arthur Conan Doyle saw the photographs, examined them thoroughly and declared them “authentically true.” Yes, he really did.In an alternate timeline set in the present, the reader is told of Olivia who has inherited her grandfather’s bookstore and with it a manuscript entitled, “Notes on a Fairy Tale.” Inside is the very story of Frances, Elsie, the faeries and the photographs.Told from alternating points of view, Hazel Gaynor, has spun her fairy tale of beauty, magic and love that spans throughout time for over a century. While the narrative goes from Frances to Olivia and back, the reader is never lost or distracted. In fact, with snippets of factual journal entries, there is just enough truth in this piece of historical fiction to suspend belief and allow the reader to enter a land of magic where imagination reigns and innocence still exists. At the end of the story, the reader, will be amazed to find the actual photos of the faeries that Conan-Doyle inspected. Yes, they are real. The photographs. You will have to decide for yourself if you believe Frances’ story. I know that I do. Very much.There are few books that I recommend without hesitation to all; this book is one of them. I had not read other reviews and had not seen spoilers and I have not given you any here. This is a tale that should be enjoyed without any preconceived notions of good or bad, reality or fiction… just read and enjoy. I know you will.

I simply adored this book and fell in love with it from the moment I read the beautifully written prologue. I admit to liking a bit of magic sometimes, who doesn't need some in their life? This book is so evocative of childhood and takes me back to hunting for fairies at the bottom of my Grans garden and making fairy houses out of twigs. I've always been aware of the Cottingley photographs, so was intrigued as to how the author would approach this. The storyline interweaves between two timelines, both of which are clearly indicated. The story takes off in August 1917 in Cottingley, Yorkshire and alternates between there and modern day Ireland. It's beautifully written with descriptive and whimsical writing. It's a perfect read for lovers of books and bookshops, with Olivia in the present day timeline inheriting a bookshop from her grandfather. The descriptions are wonderful and vivid, so much so you can almost smell the books on the shelves. The characters are easily relatable and you feel pulled easily into their worlds. Hazel Gaynor is one of those authors that can make characters jump off the page at you. I loved her style of writing; descriptive, full, rich and full of wonder and surprises, although it isn't particularly fast paced. It's definitely a book to savour and just perfect for reading in the shade of some trees on a balmy summers day - or curled up under a blanket pretending it's summer! It's not often I read a book twice anymore, with so much to get through, but this is most definitely a book I will make sure I make time to return to again and again. Many thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for the opportunity to read this ARC in return for an honest and unbiased review.

The Cottingley Secret cements Hazel Gaynor’s position as one of my favorite authors. I loved The Girl Who Came Home and A Memory of Violets, and The Cottingley Secret is equally outstanding. For years I have been fascinated with the English girls, Elise Wright and Frances Griffiths, who in 1917 claimed they photographed fairies in their backyard and the resulting notoriety they achieved. While I was familiar with the basic facts of the event, Gaynor recreates their story and fills in the details including that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle believed the photographs were authentic and helped spread their tale to the rest of England. Gaynor tells the tale in a dual timeline format which works very well for The Cottingley Secret. Olivia lives in the present day and, after the recent loss of her grandfather, returns to Ireland to manage the book shop she inherited, called Something Old, and attempt to straighten out her own life. She finds a manuscript written by Frances Griffiths and slowly becomes fascinated with the girls’ fairy tale (see my pun there?). The second story begins in 1917 when Frances and her mother come to stay with Elsie and her family during the Great War. The girls form a close bond and enjoy spending time down at the beck where Frances believes she sees fairies. She eventually confides in Elsie who concocts the idea that the girls should photograph the fairies, and the tale takes off from there – I cannot say anymore because I do not want to spoil this beautiful story. The two storylines eventually intertwine in a highly satisfying manner. I was amazed at the depth of the tale and fascinated that Gaynor was able to meet and speak at length with Frances’ daughter. I loved immersing myself in this enchanting and intriguing tale and highly recommend it to anyone looking for a feel good and magical book. I received an advance review copy of this book from the Great Thoughts’ Ninja Review Team. All opinions are my own.

Two young girls from Cottingley, Yorkshire, convince the world that they have done the impossible and photographed fairies in their garden. Their parents are astonished when one of the great novelists of the time, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is convinced of the photographs authenticity. The girls become a national sensation. The girls hide their secret for decades. One hundred years later, when Olivia Kavanagh finds an old manuscript in her late grandfathers bookshop, she becomes fascinated by the story of the two girls who mystified the world.This is a truly magical story. This book had me hooked from the beginning. It is beautifully written. It's basically a story within a story. The descriptions of the era were almost perfection itself. Set around England and Ireland. I so recommend this book.I would like to thank NetGalley, Harper Collins UK, HarperFiction and the author Hazel Gaynor for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

With lyrical prose, Gaynor captures the vivid imagination of two young girls, their journey through a world of lush forest and glittering streams and the magic that lies therein--an escape from the difficult realities of family life and WWI era England. I was utterly transported to the enchanting countryside of 1917 Yorkshire, and then again to Olivia's world in a quaint village in contemporary Ireland. In The Cottingley Secret, Gaynor asks us the question we all have buried somewhere in our hearts-- is believing in ourselves, perhaps, the most important magic of all?

THE COTTINGLEY SECRET is the first book I have read by Hazel Gaynor. I was intrigued by the idea of the book, about the cousins that took the Cottingley photographs of fairies (you can google Cottingley fairies to see the photographs yourself, they are added at the end of the book). Personally, from a modern perspective, I have a hard time to see how anyone can take them for real. But, it was another time back then.READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW OVER AT FRESH FICTION!

There is nothing better than finishing a book with a smile on my face, filled with the warmth and heart of a wonderful story. The Cottingley Secret is a beautifully written book, filled with captivating images and ideas. This is a story that you can totally immerse yourself in, a fairy tale of sorts, where you can shake off the pressures of the day and escape in a world of magic. This book is enchanting, filled with love, and truly delightful.