A rich collection of beguiling tales of encounters between Irish peasant-folk and the Daoine Sidhe, the Fairy People, or “fallen angels who are not good enough to be saved, nor bad enough to be lost” as quoted by Yeats in his commentary. Here you will find merrows, changelings, leprechauns, the Banshee, the Pukka, Tir na Nog…..

The stories have been translated or transcribed, quite beautifully, from authentic oral sources by Gaelic specialists who have an imaginative sympathy with this world of mischievous spirits, who are sometimes spiteful but rarely truly malevolent. Some of the contributions are superb – the macabre story of Teig O’Kane and the Corpse could easily claim to be one of the best short stories ever created.

This isn’t a book to be read from cover to cover, but one or two stories each night at bedtime might just give you pleasantly unsettled dreams.