Shin Shira is a fairy who appears in the narrator's study, but not by choice. An ancestor had irritated his great grandmother, who cast a spell on him that would make him appear and disappear whenever the old lady chose. Unfortunately, it didn't work on him. Hundreds of years later, it worked on Shin Shira. Shin Shira recounts variety of adventures in his comings and goings, involving a dragon, a roc, a magic carpet, and other fabulous things, before attempting to settle down as a proper Victorian in London. Alas, the spell is still in effect . . .

Author Biography

George Edward Farrow (1862 - 1919) born in Ipswich in England, was a noted British children's book author of whose life little is known. The son of George Farrow, a cement manufacturer in Ipswich, and his wife Emily, G.E. Farrow was educated in London and America. In 1891 he was working as a clerk to the Collector of Inland Revenue and was living at No 190 Dalston Lane in Hackney. In 1901 he was living at No 83 Sterndale Road in Hammersmith. By this time his occupation is listed as 'Author'. On both these dates his mother was living with him. He also lived for a time in Brook Green in West Kensington. During his literary career Farrow wrote more than thirty books for children. He encouraged his young readers to write to him, answered their letters and let their tastes and opinions guide his future works (rather like his American contemporary L. Frank Baum). Though he wrote adventure tales and poetry, Farrow was best known for his nonsense books written in the tradition of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.