This collection of tales by Sylvia Townsend Warner is, to say the least, cause for celebration…. ["Kingdoms of Elfin"] has all the freshness, wit, originality of perception and clarity of insight that have won for her rhythmical prose so many admirers over so long a time. It offers us an unforgettable journey through time and space, a cast of truly fantastic characters and an impressive and seemingly unending display of verbal fireworks.

Sylvia Townsend Warner's fairyland kingdoms will no doubt be likened to the imaginary realms of J.R.R. Tolkien in "The Lord of the Rings." They may attract many of the same readers and even inspire a similar cult, but they are essentially different. (p. 6)

The stories in "Kingdoms of Elfin" are not genuine fairy tales, in the sense that the author chooses not to move through the looking-glass, but rather to hold that glass up...