The King of Elfland’s Daughter

When the parliament of Erl decides it wants to be ruled by a magic lord, young Alveric is sent across the fields we know into Elfland to win Lirazel, the daughter of the Elf King. He succeeds, and she comes to live among mortals, but a bride out of faerie cannot easily belong to a world of clocks and churches. Her father’s longing draws her home with a runic spell, and Alveric spends years wandering in search of a border that keeps receding before him. Dunsany turns this simple frame into one of the loveliest fantasy novels in the language, alive to the ache between the everyday world and the timeless one just beyond it. Free to download as a PDF and EPUB.