Fay

by Stephen Moore

‘Thomas, I’ve seen her again . . . the faerie! She’s in one of the gardens of the empty houses. At the back of Lesbury Terrace.’ Jenny Flynn was looking horribly serious again.

‘What? Oh, ha, ha, ha! Don’t make me laugh! A faerie at the bottom of a garden?’

‘But it’s true, Thomas. It’s true . . .’

Do you believe in faeries? Dangerous, real live, flesh and blood faeries? Thomas Dobson doesn’t. When the local glassworks closes down and the workers lose their jobs he thinks it’s just bad luck. When developers move in and bulldoze his favourite playground – the garden allotments that are his dad’s pride and joy – he thinks it’s just one of those things. When people get hurt, go missing and worse, it’s just the way things are. It’s got nothing to do with silly faeries . . .

But what if he’s wrong?

Maybe it’s time to start believing.

200 pages, Paperback

First published May 24, 2006

About the author

I'm a British author who's written several successful fantasy novels for older children, young-adults and adult readers. The very first book I wrote, a fantasy adventure called SPILLING THE MAGIC, was published in 1996 by Hodder Children’s Books. Its sequel, FIDDLESTICKS AND FIRESTONES, quickly followed. My most notable success came in 1998 with the publication of the highly acclaimed TOOTH AND CLAW and its sequel SKIN AND BONE, both gritty, 'talking animal' fantasies. THE BRUGAN followed in 1999. DEAD EDWARD, a fantasy ghost story, in 2001, and FAY, an urban fairy tale, in 2006. Finally, 2015 saw the appearance of my first fantasy novel for adults when Harper Voyager published GRAYNELORE, my ‘grown-up fairy tale’. Along the way I’ve had books translated into Hebrew, Italian and Russian. I live in the North of England, a landscape which has been a strong influence on many of my fictional worlds. However, I have no plans to write more. That said, I'm definitely not dead; life's big adventure goes on…

Reviews

[Bree Wolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

By Bree Wolf, author of Fireflies

‘Fay’ is a strangely interesting story. When you hear ‘faeries’, you don’t really think of … well, Fay. You just have to read it to understand what I mean. All I can say is that the idea of two people looking at the same thing and yet seeing something different is intriguing!
What I particularly liked was the way the main character, Thomas, sometimes directly addresses the reader. You feel drawn into the story as though you’re along for the ride, and not just watching from the sidelines. A magical read!

[Heather Cawte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fairies, as everyone knows, are pretty little things with sparkly dresses and iridescent wings, and they live at the bottom of the garden. They don't move into empty houses, dressed in a baggy white T-shirt and a tatty denim skirt, and become the focus of a string of unpleasant accidents and events. Fay is an elemental force, a tree spirit, something altogether 'other', in the middle of a village with problems - unemployment, derelict houses, and the local allotments being bulldozed for building land. In a few muggy, cloudy days she creates havoc - until three unlikely heroes find a way to help her.

As always, Stephen Moore's writing is vivid and immediate. He captures so well the unearthliness of Fay and the day-to-day life of the village. His characters are believable and fully-rounded, and the story is imaginative and satisfying. Highly recommended.

I received a free review copy of this book, but I would have been perfectly happy to pay the cover price for it.