Patricia Lynch is especially important in the scope of children's literature for her incorporation of Irish folklore and Celtic magic into her stories for children. Not only did she bring to print many Irish legends, but she also introduced a country and a way of life to children who otherwise might have had no contact with leprechauns, country fairs, or turf fires. Her books of Irish fantasy with her descriptions of the Irish countryside have been translated into French, Gaelic, Dutch, German, Swedish, and Malay.

Married to Richard Michael Fox, also a writer, before her first book was published, Lynch was the daughter of an Irish businessman, Timothy Patrick, and an Irish lace maker and storyteller, Nora Lynch. She published all of her books as either Patricia Lynch or Patricia Nora Lynch. In A Story-Teller's Childhood (1947), Lynch recounts being moved from place to place, making and losing friends...