The Mystery of Fool & The Vanisher

The Mystery of the Fool and the Vanisher is a beautifully presented tale set in the Fairy-haunted landscape of the Sussex Downs. The narrator’s discovery of an old wooden chest in a ruined farmhouse – a chest which when opened reveals a collection of extremely curious artefacts belonging to one Isaac Wilde – leads to the uncovering of a Victorian-era mystery concerning Wilde’s employment as photographer on an archaeological dig. As the narrator deciphers the objects in the chest we learn how the excavation of an ancient hill fort angers its resident tribe of Pixies, who reveal themselves to Wilde in an attempt to stop the destruction of their home. Unfortunately for Wilde, he is ridiculed and proclaimed a fraud when he presents the photographs he has taken, the most vicious of his persecutors being his employer Dr Gibson Gayle, a man who subsequently disappears in mysterious circumstances… The narrator’s obsession to find the truth takes him deep into the woods to discover the powers of the Fair Folk for himself.

David Ellwand’s previous offering Fairie-ality was a whimsical fairy fashion collection, whereas the Fool and the Vanisher has an altogether darker tone, but it captures the spirit of Britain’s Fairies as presented in folklore perfectly. The illustrations are superb, with many wonderfully atmospheric photographs of the Sussex landscape, and fascinating reproductions of the Fairy artefacts and facsimiles of Isaac Wilde’s journal pages. I found it to be an absorbing read, and one that will be enjoyed time and again.

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