It got out of hand when the famous British writer Arthur Conan Doyle, known for the Sherlock Holmes character, and photography experts heard about it, and in the course of investigating said that the photos were 100% authentic.įast forward 100 years to 2017 when Olivia Kavanagh finds out that her great grandmother was Francis’ teacher and played a role in the fairy hoax. After telling her family and wanting very much to be believed she and her cousin Elsie take photographs of fairy cutouts, drawn by Elsie. Displaced after her father went off to fight in World War I and moving with her mother from South Africa to England Francis sees these magical figures, pixies, to combat loneliness. One, Francis Griffiths, believes she actually saw them, and the other, her cousin, Elsie Wright, thought it would make a great practical joke. I think they were symbolic for a sense of hope, faith, and belief.”Ĭottingley Yorkshire became famous after two girls in 1917 claimed they saw fairies. If we believe in something then we can make it happen. They chose to escape the horrors of WWI and hoped there was another realm, where life went on. People latched on to this magical story and were primed to believe there was an after life. During World War I so many lives were lost. They are like Santa Claus where you do not want to question that sense of another being. Even the setting in Yorkshire appears magical, the shallow Beck with the little waterfall, the willow bough seat, and the sunlight illuminating the leaves on the trees. She takes readers back to a world of enchantment with this intriguing mystery.

Gaynor in her latest brings back all those fond memories and more. Clap your hands! Clap your hands and say, ‘I believe in fairies,’ and both adults and children participated. Remember the line, She’s going to die unless we do something. Most everyone can refer back to their childhood and remember their longing for a fairy, whether it was the tooth fairy or Tinkerbell from Peter Pan. Delving deeper into the past, and the truth behind an innocent game that became a national obsession, Olivia begins to question her own beliefs.The Cottingley Secret by Hazel Gaynor is literally a “fairy” tale. But when the great novelist, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, endorses the photographs' authenticity, the girls become a sensation their discovery offering something to believe in amid a world ravaged by war.One hundred years later: When Olivia Kavanagh finds an old manuscript and a photograph in her late grandfather's bookshop it sparks a fascination with the story of the two young girls who mystified the world. Cottingley, Yorkshire, 1917: When two young cousins, Frances Griffiths and Elsie Wright, announce they have photographed fairies at the bottom of the garden, their parents are astonished. The New York Times bestselling author turns the clock back to a time when two young girls convinced the world that fairies really did exist.