Secrets of the Good Fairy House by Sophie Masson and Lorena Carrington

Title: Secrets of the Good Fairy House

Author: Sophie Masson and Lorena Carrington

Genre: Memoir/Fiction

Publisher: Pardalote Press

Published: 1st June 2023

Format: Paperback

Pages: 48

Price: $25

Synopsis: Secrets of the Good-Fairy House is a unique exploration of how a beloved childhood house can grant not only a treasury of rich memories, but also spark imaginative childhood adventures, and future creative inspiration. Created by award-winning author Sophie Masson and acclaimed illustrator Lorena Carrington, this beautiful book is an interwoven mix of memoir and fiction in both text and images, taking you on a fascinating journey into a very special magic. 

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Sophie Masson and Lorena Carrington have teamed up to create another delightful book, drawing on fairy tale traditions and the houses and things that inspire them – the magic in the houses they grew up in that they call the good fairy houses. Each short story explores the magic in childhood, and the fairy tales within the usually ordinary places – a wardrobe, a hall clock, and photographs – they have combined words that weave a magic spell around the reader. I loved that these short little stories captured so much – they captured the joy of words, imagination, and reading, and I loved them.

I loved the incorporation of fairy tales and fantasy stories -the wardrobe was a conduit to Narnia – and who amongst us as children did not go searching for a world like Narnia in the back of our wardrobes, hoping to find Mr Tumnus and the Beavers? In a child’s eye, anything is filled with magic and power, and can become anything they want it to be. In this book, we enter a world of fairies and imagination, and Lorena and Sophie encourage readers to use these stories to fuel their imagination and construct a world they can escape into.

It is a small, but powerful book that fuels the imagination, and takes the reader back to a world where they can bring those childhood fantasies back to life, which is joyful and meaningful. It is both an escape from reality and a reminder that magic, and fairies is everywhere, we just need to want to find it. And it can be found in the simplest of things around the house as we think about what a house and its various aspects look like to a child seeking adventure.

At its heart, it is about finding other worlds in the world around us, something that is useful and common with writers, who are always looking for the enchanted aspects of the everyday items that most people see as mundane. What if we picked up an old coin and were thrust back in time? What if fantasy lands are at the top of an old tree? And what would happen if we fell into a notebook as we wrote? These possibilities are endless, and I loved that about this book. It is inspirational and comforting and is a book that I hope will be loved and well-received, because it is something a little bit different which is good. It is a book that all creatives will love – and I hope they love it as much as I do. It is a very special book that has spirit and joy within its pages. It can spark the imagination, and is a wonderful example of the joyous books that Pardalote Press is putting out.