In the Kingdom of the Fairies: A Memoir of a Magical Summer and a Remarkable Friendship [Hardcover]

Susan Coyne (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 13, 2003

When Susan Coyne was five years old her family went, as always, to spend the summer in a cottage on Lake of the Woods in Western Ontario. One of their neighbors was an elderly retired school administrator and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Moir, whose garden was one of the local wonders.

Nearby was a ruined cabin now inhabited, Susan was assured, by elves; all that remained of it was a moss-covered fireplace, a miniature enchanted castle with tunnels and ramparts. If you leaned in close you could hear the hum of elves living and working deep within. Susan swept the heart, filled walnut shells with water, and left a small tribute of flowers. One day when she visited the fireplace she found a letter waiting for her; it was from a princess fairy. and so began a summer's correspondence that would nourish a lifetime.

Susan later knew that the letters were written by Mr. Moir, with whom she stayed in touch over the years. But to her they always remained pure magic, a pathway into the worlds that words alone can create. Here is a memoir for children of all ages - to be read, read aloud, reread, remembered.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this memoir of a childhood summer filled with magic, actress Coyne experiences seemingly real-life encounters with a fairy princess and comes to believe in a whole secret world of remarkable creatures. The June that she is five, Coyne accompanies her family to their summer cottage on Lake of the Woods in Canada, where their neighbors are the elderly Moir couple. Told by her father that an abandoned cottage had once been inhabited by elves, Coyne decides to beautify the cottage to encourage the little creatures to return. "I went back to the fireplace and knelt down to look inside...I could almost hear the hum of busy elfish lives. So I started leaving little gifts there for the elves: handfuls of wild strawberries, a daisy chain." Days later, she finds the first of a series of letters addressed to her by the spunky Nootsie Tah, a fairy princess who shares the story of her enchanting life with the little girl. ("It irks me, Susan, it irks me to tears that whatever animal I try to be I turn out to be a cat. Saturday I turned into a Maltese kitten. I was beautiful," reads an early letter.) While not much of consequence transpires in the letters from Nootsie (which were penned by the kind Mr. Moir) or in the intervening pages, the young Coyne revels in her own extraordinary experiences and learns much about friendship, imagination and love. Coyne's memoir is a tribute to the beauty and innocence of childhood, where nothing is too strange or fantastic to come true. Heartwarming and charming, if a little treacly, this fiction-like reminiscence may delight children and adults alike.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

In 1963, five-year-old Susan Coyne and her family went to their summer cottage near Lake of the Woods in Ontario. It was next door to Mr and Mrs. Moir, who were in their 70s. In the hedge between the two cottages was an old stone fireplace, the last remnant of Uncle Joe's house for bachelor elves, according to Susan's father. So Susan begins to leave little gifts for the fairies there, and--lo!--a fairy princess begins to leave notes for her in return. For all of that summer, Susan finds fairy letters--funny, silly, self-important, and full of fairy lore from sources such as Keats and Shakespeare. She gets people to read the letters to her and dictates letters back. Readers will catch on pretty quickly who's behind the fairy letters, but their gossamer charm and the wise kindness of an old scholar to a very small girl glows in these pages like burnished gold. GraceAnne DeCandido
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; First Edition edition (September 13, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312317069
• ISBN-13: 978-0312317065
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,899,045 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars read Read READ this book!, September 24, 2003

By 

Enchanted One (NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In the Kingdom of the Fairies: A Memoir of a Magical Summer and a Remarkable Friendship (Hardcover)

Lately I've been having the worst time trying to find something truly worthwhile to read. Countless titles have been started and then quickly set aside (since I am of an age where I no longer feel compelled to waste time reading boring books). Not only did this book not bore me, it brought me joy. Been a looooooong time since a book did that for me! If you sometimes (or oftentimes) feel as if the world has gone mostly mad, set aside a few hours for this book.

Bravo and thanks to Ms. Coyne (and Mr. Moir)!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars strong bio of a child and an adult sharing values, September 4, 2003

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In the Kingdom of the Fairies: A Memoir of a Magical Summer and a Remarkable Friendship (Hardcover)

This one-year in the life of biography describes how in 1963 then five-year old Susan Coyne spends a summer at the family cottage in Western Ontario. Susan discovered an abandoned fireplace in the hedge between her family house and that of the next door neighbors Mr. and Mrs. Moir. Her dad explained to Susan that the elves built the fireplace. Feeling some form of kinship, Susan leaves small presents for the elves that are gone by the next day. One day Princess Nootsie Tah on behalf of Queen Mab writes a thank you note. With the help of her nanny, little Susan responds. Soon an elf and a human child become pen pals even while Susan spent plenty of time with the retired Mr. Noir listening to his stories.

This true story is a great book that shows how one caring person can make a difference. Princess Nootsie Tah obviously cherished the classics and sprinkled much of that love into the letters (the allusions are brilliant) that fired the imagination of a child. The letters are incredibly written as Mr. Moir treats his young friend with respect and intelligence. Perhaps starting with that one summer provided the foundation to the dream of becoming an actress that Susan Coyne later fulfilled. IN THE KINGDOM OF FAIRIES is a strong bio of a child and an adult sharing meaningful social values.

Harriet Klausner

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magic Comes to Western Ontario, January 7, 2004

By 

[e-mail] (Boston, Mass.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In the Kingdom of the Fairies: A Memoir of a Magical Summer and a Remarkable Friendship (Hardcover)

From BlueJeanOnline.com
by Amruta Gadgil

J.R.R Tolkien's acclaimed trilogy Lord of the Rings places New Zealand at the center of action, but the summer of '63 Western Ontario became a playground of fairies, kingdoms, fantasy, and a budding friendship for one five-year old girl. Author Susan Coyne relives and reflects on her magical summer In the Kingdom of Fairies.

While on an excursion at the family cottage, Susan stumbles onto a fireplace wedged between her house and the next-door neighbors. Her father's rationale is that the fireplace was built by elves. Intrigued, Susan leaves small gifts and flowers. The kind gestures prompt a correspondence from character, Princess Nootsie Tah through Queen Mab and Susan.

Susan strikes up a friendship with her neighbor Mr. Moir and shares her secret correspondence. Moir a good-natured old man is knowledgeable about the princess fairy Nootsie Tah and revels in Susan's curiosity and merriment in fairies and all things magical.

Nootsie Tah and Susan continue their exchange of letters and drawings while Susan's friendship with Mr. Moir blossoms, until it is time for her to go back to school in Toronto. After that summer, Susan's foray with elves and fairies stop. Nevertheless, her relationship with Mr. Moir never wanes even with the daily distractions of school and friends.

Ten years later when Susan's father sends her the old letters and cards that were exchanged, she discovers that the fairies and elves she communicated with were actually Mr. Moir.

In the Kingdom of Fairies is a true tale mingled with fantasy and friendship. Susan and Mr. Moir's friendship is uncomplicated in a complicated world making that summer one that will be etched in her mind forever.

Copyright 2003 BlueJeanOnline.com