A review by compassrose
Meeting the Other Crowd: The Fairy Stories of Hidden Ireland by Carolyn Eve Green, Eddie Lenihan

An anthology of stories collected by Lenihan from Irish elders and traditional storytellers, primarily in the southwest of Ireland, concerning fairy beliefs and encounters. Divided into three themed sections (who they are and what they want, fairy places, and fairy gifts and punishments), with each story glossed by Lenihan with the possible significance and plausibility of the encounter (although since he fully believes, or claims to, he doesn't strike me as an objective witness!).  He also provides a sentimental introduction about how we're losing all the old ways thanks to highways and cellphones and electric lights. The eye dialect isn't my favourite, but the transcription/translation does certainly seem to preserve the individual diction of the storytellers (who are not, however, credited) --I noticed what seemed to be at least three recurring ones who were identifiable by particular turns of speech. The integration of Christian belief was particularly interesting to me, both the several stories in which fairies directed a hapless human to ask a priest or a dying person what their eventual fate would be under the Christian god, and the ones where it was clear that Christian priests had taken on the role of intermediary and magical banisher of fairy malice (which is also held by the uncanny Biddy Early in several tales, who was a 19th century seer and herbalist).