Hy Brazilis an absorbing and compelling book written in the tradition of historical fantasy, which is an intriguing genre. The narrative is set in Elizabethan England, beginning in the year 1591, but the fantastic elements, which encompass two thirds of the novel, take place in a fabled realm inhabited by the elven folk, the phantom island of Hy Brazil supposedly in the Atlantic somewhere west of Ireland and marked on several maps of the time. Legends describe this Celtic Otherworld as cloaked in mist except for one day every seven years when it becomes visible. Always, however, it is supposed to be unreachable.

The book is written in the first person by Edward Harry, and everything is perceived from his viewpoint. This is clearly stated in the Foreword which declares ‘I myself, Edward Harry, am the only begetter and so I shall be the first word in all the…