In Kingdoms of Elfin,… Sylvia Townsend Warner … never condescends to an ethereal race that views mortals as "unfailingly serious and unfailingly absurd." Instead, she talks about fairies without being fey and creates a texture for the intangible.

Each of the book's 16 stories … can fly on its own. Taken together, they form both a whimsical saga of invisible dynasties and an extended commentary on Homo sapiens. Warner's elves are in many ways mirror images of men. They cannot weep and do not hate. They reproduce with difficulty but live for centuries: "Fairies are constructed for longevity, not fertility." They are governed exclusively by women—the more capricious the better. Mocking the human dream of taking wing, elves aspire to a place in society so high that flying will be beneath them. (p. 73)

Warner's prose duplicates the iridescent beauty of elfin life. Her descriptions are brushed with an unsettling magic...