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Chargement... The Cottingley Secret: A Novel (édition 2017)par Hazel Gaynor (Auteur)
Information sur l'oeuvreThe Cottingley Secret par Hazel Gaynor
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Inscrivez-vous à LibraryThing pour découvrir si vous aimerez ce livre Actuellement, il n'y a pas de discussions au sujet de ce livre. I had never heard of Hazel Gaynor but I had heard of the Cottingley fairies and had seen one of the famous photos but didn’t really know the story behind what actually happened so I was intrigued to read this book. A blend of fact and fiction surrounding a series of photographs published in 1917 and 1920 taken by two young girls, Frances and Emily in the English village of Cottingley who claimed to have photographed fairies in their garden and captured the attention of a world at war. With a parallel present day story line that ties in beautifully, Olivia Kavanagh discovers an ancient manuscript in the bookshop she’s inherited from her beloved grandfather. When she finds an old photograph she discovers that her own life is actually connected to the story. In the end you don't care whether the photos were faked, or if fairies really were seen. You are simply enchanted that someone can believe that something so magical exists. You don't need to believe in Fairies to enjoy this book but it might help if you suspend believes just for a little while! This is a perfect summer read that will enchant even the stoniest of heart! Really enjoyed this book but as I have always loved the story of The Cottingley Fairies I think my expectations were very high and it wasn’t a five star read for me. Told both in early 20 th Century and in current day, as is nearly always the case for me I preferred the earlier timeline of the story which in this case was about the girls involved in faking the fairy photos. The modern day Part was engaging but I wanted to get back to the actual fairy story. 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! A review I wrote in 2020: The Cottingley Secret by Hazel Gaynor (4.5 stars) I’ve had a fascination with the Cottingley Fairies story since I first heard about it in 1997 when the film, A Fairy Tale, came out. Reading Enid Blyton’s early book of poems, Real Fairies, recently rekindled my interest and I came across this 2017 novel by Hazel Gaynor. Well-researched and based very much on the real life events of cousins Frances Griffiths and Elsie Wright in 1917-1920, Hazel has interwoven the story of the Cottingley cousins with a modern day story about a woman called Olivia. Olivia finds an old photograph and manuscript in her late grandfather’s bookshop and as she delves further into the distant past to escape her present circumstances she learns more about her own past. Will it give her the strength she needs to face her future? Beautifully written, an uplifting story and highly recommended for anyone who believes in fairies ;-). aucune critique | ajouter une critique
1917... It was inexplicable, impossible, but it had to be true--didn't it? When two young cousins, Frances Griffiths and Elsie Wright from Cottingley, England, claim to have photographed fairies at the bottom of the garden, their parents are astonished. But when one of the great novelists of the time, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, becomes convinced of the photographs' authenticity, the girls become a national sensation, their discovery offering hope to those longing for something to believe in amid a world ravaged by war. Frances and Elsie will hide their secret for many decades. But Frances longs for the truth to be told. One hundred years later... When Olivia Kavanagh finds an old manuscript in her late grandfather's bookshop she becomes fascinated by the story it tells of two young girls who mystified the world. But it is the discovery of an old photograph that leads her to realize how the fairy girls' lives intertwine with hers, connecting past to present, and blurring her understanding of what is real and what is imagined. As she begins to understand why a nation once believed in fairies, can Olivia find a way to believe in herself? Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque |
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Google Books — Chargement... GenresClassification décimale de Melvil (CDD)823.92Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 2000-Classification de la Bibliothèque du CongrèsÉvaluationMoyenne:
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I read about the Cottingley fairies years ago, so was interested to read this fictional treatment. However, it was nearly a DNF at about two thirds. I put it aside but finally returned to it a couple of days ago. Luckily, the story picked up in the last part.
The narrative consists of two timelines: one set in present day Ireland, where Olivia has returned following the death of her beloved grandfather - she was raised by her grandparents - and the first person journal of Frances Griffiths, one of the girls in the Cottingley fairies story. Olivia is running away from marriage to a wealthy and hard-nosed businessman and has also not broken devastating news to him about her inability to have children. She has inherited a struggling bookshop from her granddad and sets about trying to get it on a better footing while dealing with the grief of her grandmother developing dementia and now in a nursing home.
Olivia finds Frances' personal account and begins to read it, plus a photograph of Frances with the fairies and a magazine article which gives Frances and her cousin Elsie aliases. Instead of realising their names were changed to fend off thrill-seekers, she persists for quite a while in a misconception that they are different people. That was a minor irritation though, compared to her general wimpish character. Instead of phoning the wedding planner to tell them the wedding is off, she throws her phone into the harbour! She behaves as if she 'has' to marry a man she now realises she doesn't love: something that would only be an issue in an historical novel where women had no choices. The treatment of her medical issue is also unconvincing: she should be experiencing an early menopause but has none of the symptoms.
The historical narrative was more interesting. Frances arrives in Yorkshire with her mother in 1917, having been raised in South Africa. Her father has gone off to fight in France. They live in Cottingley with an aunt, uncle and cousin Elsie. Although Frances is nine and her cousin about six years older, they get on really well. Frances spends a lot of time at the nearby beck (stream) and woodland, sometimes on her own as her cousin is working in a photography shop, and catches glimpses of colourful entities: the fairies.
One day when scolded by her mother for getting her dress wet wading in the beck, she blurts out that she sees fairies. Elsie, in whom she has already confided, comes up an idea of how to exonerate her: they will fake photographs. Being a reasonable artist, Elsie produces two sets of fairies, and they take the first two iconic photos which eventually end up being made public through the actions of her aunt and the interest of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the Theosophist Society. Outside interest gathers momentum over the next few years and they stage a couple more. Then Frances' father returns safely at the end of the war, and her family moves away. She thinks the fairy episode is over, apart from her guilty twinges about lying, but is drawn back to Cottingley in the early 1920s by outside pressure to take more photos.
Her narrative is more interesting than Olivia's, based on the historical account, though with some fictional elements, such as the schoolteacher with a missing child who provides the connection to Olivia's family. It's odd though that Olivia reads it at the same pace as its narrative placement in the novel and doesn't finish it until near the end, as the reader does. That comes across as unrealistic: why wouldn't she read it in a few days given the increasingly obvious connection to her own family?
The main issue with the older timeline were occasional jarring anachronisms: I'm pretty sure that 'teenager' wasn't coined till the 1950s, and surely the expression 'elephant in the room ' is quite modern? There were also a few Americanisms in the other part of the story such as 'gotten'. But these are insignificant compared to the annoying character of Olivia. Luckily she does become a bit more assertive in the last third and the book doesn't take the obvious happy ending.
There's a short section at the back which explains some of the history, how the author came to write the book, and includes the fairy photos. Since the last third of the story was better, and the non-fiction section was interesting, I've rated the book as 2 stars overall rather than the DNF it was originally headed towards. ( )