Irish Magic II: Four Unforgettable Novellas of Love and Enchantment [Hardcover]

Morgan Llywelyn (Author), Barbara Samuel (Author), Susan Wiggs (Author), Roberta Gellis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1997

Four Irish myths celebrate romance, adventure, and timeless love and include "The Changeling" by Susan Wiggs, "Earthly Magic" by Barbara Samuel, "To Recapture the Light" by Morgan Llywelyn, and "The Bride Price" by Roberta Gellis.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Changelings, fairies, ancient deities, all ready to fall in love--where but in Ireland, the inspired setting for novellas that straddle the genre boundary between romance and fantasy. The book gets off to a somewhat slow start with Susan Wiggs' "The Changeling," which finally disappoints by backing away from promised mystery and revealing that everyone is just human, after all. The tempo picks up substantially with Barbara Samuel's "Earthly Magic," the voluptuous, darkly erotic depiction of a young woman torn between two lovers, one from this world, one from faerie. In "To Recapture the Light," Morgan Llywelyn chooses a heroine from the other world who is willing to give up her immortality for human love, and Roberta Gellis wraps up with "Bride Price," an exciting romance set in an ancient, mythic world full of thwarted love and monsters. Good, diverting reading for the lull between St. Valentine's and St. Pat's. Patricia Monaghan

From Kirkus Reviews

Companion volume to the paperback Irish Magic, ambitiously subtitled ``Four Unforgettable Novellas of Love and Enchantment.'' In Susan Wiggs's sexy ``The Changeling,'' Hank Farrell of Muleshoe, Texas, sells his ranch and brings his grandmother's ashes to the Irish coast to be scattered. His first morning at Carrygerry House finds him falling for Aislinn Finn, the owner's changeling daughter. A changeling is a baby switched at birth by fairies, who steal a human infant and leave one of their own in its place. Aislinn is forever barred from human love--any man she loves will, supposedly, die. Nonetheless, out in the fields she surrenders herself to Hank: ``. . . the earth was solid beneath her and the sky split apart with shooting stars as she climbed and then shattered like the great celestial mirror overhead...shattered and was made whole again, until she lay quiet and was close to him.'' In Barbara Samuel's ``Earthly Magic,'' a wandering bard saves a human princess from being kidnapped by a fairy prince, who needs only to kiss her to capture her forever. How can the smitten bard save the king's daughter when the fairy prince has cursed and struck the singer dumb? Well, pagan sex helps. Llywelyn's ``To Recapture the Light'' is an accomplished tale, transparent as springwater. The aging fairy Lasair Leary meets Cormac Casey, an artist out scouting fairy sites he can illustrate for a book when love's thunderbolt strikes. But if she gives him her love she will lose centuries from her life. Alas, Cormac is going blind, and love must find a way, which it does, though rather tragically. Roberta Gellis's richly erotic ``Bride Price'' tells of a woman who after ten years calls her importunate fairy prince to come and marry her, then demands that he provide endless certitudes of love. A bedtime bonbon for the ladies. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 340 pages
• Publisher: Kensington; First Edition edition (March 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1575661403
• ISBN-13: 978-1575661407
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,744,722 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Magick afoot, December 13, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Irish Magic II: The Changeling/ Earthly Magic/ To Recapture the Light/ Bride Price (Paperback)

I picked this book up on a whim at a book fair. I was enormously lucky to find four such gifted story tellers together in one book. This book is a must for those who love the Ireland of yore. This was one of those books I read cover to cover in one sitting. After each story, I was worried that the next would be a disappointment, but that never happened. These tales weave together to give you a sense of Irish Magick as its best.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 'Tis a fine read!, March 6, 2003

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Irish Magic II: The Changeling/ Earthly Magic/ To Recapture the Light/ Bride Price (Paperback)

Wonderful stories of magic, romance, and irish lore. If you like to curl up at night with a short story, this is a great book for you. I was delighted with this book and with Irish Magic.