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1850s, 1860s: Just who are the Hidden people and what do they want?
The Hidden People
What you need to know before your trail
Pretty Lizzie Higgs is gone, burned to death on her own hearth – but was she really a changeling, as her husband insists? Albie Mirralls met his cousin only once, in 1851, within the grand glass arches of the Crystal Palace, but unable to countenance the rumours that surround her murder, he leaves his young wife in London and travels to Halfoak, a village steeped in superstition.
Albie begins to look into Lizzie’s death, but in this place where the old tales hold sway and the ‘Hidden People’ supposedly roam, answers are slippery and further tragedy is just a step away . . .
Travel Guide
Yorkshire folklore
This book has a really interesting story behind the story. The author had the idea having heard of the true life story of Bridget Clearly and her tragic end as she was burned,suspected of being a fairy changeling in 1895. There have been many smiliar cases of people being burned or abused for being suspected of being ‘not of this world’ Fairy beliefs are strongest in Celtic countries and the word Celtic comes from the Greek word Keltoi which means hidden. So the title of the book as well as the place name Kelthrope in the novel is a nod to the origins of these tales.
Pudding Pye Hill
A real mount near Sowerby and Thirsk in Yorkshire. thought to have been formed by fairies.
Cottingley
Perhaps the place of the best known fairy story of them all – Even Arthur Conan Doyle got interested in the fact that people may well have sighted real life fairy folk in the gardens and country lanes in and around Cottingly in Yorkshire.
Booktrailer Review
Susan: @thebooktrailer
This is a difficult book to review I feel as there is so much to it that it’s really best to discover it for yourself. It reminded me of the classics such as the Woman in White whereby women are seen as strange creatures and anyone who wasn’t a local was deemed suspicious.
The setting is undeniable Yorkshire and is heavily influenced by that landscape and folklore of the region. The author explains her fascination with the story of the Pudding Pye Hill and the story of the Cottingley fairies and the sad story of Bridget Cleary who was burned for being a fairy changeling.
This is a slow read but I felt wrapped up in a gothic mystery world populate by fairies and all kinds of folklore characters and it was magical. I do love an old gothic novel and this one seemed to pay homage to so many and is a great book for understanding the genre and exploring it more. It makes you wonder just how beliefs and superstitions can rule people and develop into something which starts to rule the people who started the ‘rumour’ it in the first place. The Gossip mill and those who toil there are never out of work it would seem.For any one who thinks that this ‘ fairy talk’ would seem silly in a novel, then remember Sherlock Holmes creator himself believed the story of the Cottingley fairies as did many others of his time. It really immerses you in the time and mindset and before long you’ll be believing it too.
The writing is sublime and I’m amazed it was written by a modern day author as quite frankly if you’d told me one of the Brontes had written it I would have believed you. The time and place are evoked with exquisite minute detail that I was swept up in it all – never has the phrase ‘ away with the fairies” seemed more apt
Booktrail Boarding Pass Information: The Hidden People
Author/ Guide: Alison Littlewood Destination: Yorkshire Departure Time: 1850, 1860s
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