When Mr Tipkins, a gift-giver from the Department of Wishes of Faerie, arrives to give a wish to a newborn baby in the village of Widdershins, he isn't in the best of moods. His uncharacteristic burst of bad temper begins a chain reaction that has consequences no one can foresee. The Truth about Magic is a story of mistakes and of deception, of wizards (good and bad), and of what happens when perfectly ordinary wishes go wrong.
When the wood elf from the Department of Magical gifts lost his temper he ended up giving Alan a much stronger gift than intended, now he can't help but tell the absolute truth and he knows if someone isn't being completely honest. Then there is girl who also got much too strong a gift from a incompetent high elf, she can't help herself - she has such a giving nature that she must give away anything dear that she is asked for. When these children get mixed up with the faerie folk who made them the way they are, it makes for a fun adventure.