Perilous Enchantment:The True History of Faeries
Friday 23rd October, 7pm
Pilrig St. Paul's / LARCH, Leith Walk, Edinburgh EH6 5AH
6.30pm
7pm
"Inviting, charming, funny, sometimes horrifying and always informative, a wonderfully personal and lively introduction to the world of fairies" -- Marion Gibson
Sarah Clegg has a PhD in ancient history from the University of Cambridge. Her first book, Woman’s Lore, was shortlisted for the HWA Non-Fiction Crown. She is a former bookseller and now works in publishing.
Sarah joins us on the 23rd of September to discuss Perilous Enchantment, a wonderfully compelling history of Faeries.
We often think of them as tiny, glittering creatures fluttering about in pastel tulle, but fairies haven’t always been so benign. Here, historian Sarah Clegg explores the true history of fairies, and the menace and ambiguity that always lurks within the shimmering fantasy.
This history takes us from elf fires in Iceland to a burial mound in Ireland; and from a stream in Cottingley where two sisters created a fairy hoax to a modern-day fairy ball in Los Angeles. Along the way, Clegg reveals fairies’ connection to ancient gods and their role in the witch-trials, and examines their seductive presence in romantasy today. This is a story of how fairy myths grew and spread across Europe, of how they changed and developed, and why we have, for centuries, been so enthralled by the danger and enchantment of the fae.