Fairy Island: An Enchanted Tour of the Homes of the Little Folk

Noted nature crafter Laura Martin has created a fantasy for fairy-lovers. Its conceit involves a botanist, Christine Newkirk, who has discovered five tiny houses on a magical island, all made from natural materials on a perfect fairy scale—the houses are no more than 18 inches high, beds are 2 x 3 inches, shoes are 1 inch long. She documents her finds in a field diary she is keeping for her granddaughter.

The woodland cottage is filled with bent twig furniture. The Japanese house displays bamboo slippers outside the door, and the beach house has a minute bath tiled with seashells. Each spread is filled with photos and drawings of these tiny objects, all identified with their botanical names.

To leaf through these pages is to enter another world and dwell in it—the world of fantasy that has fascinated people through the ages.