There is a plethora of interesting stories tangled here. Dame Juliana Flagg "Dame J" has a past full of tragedy; childless herself, her philandering husband had a child with a housemaid at Cairndonan over 20 years ago who then went missing at age two. Everyone believes he was taken by the faeries. Then there was a well-beloved brother Adam who returned injured from a French battle in World War I who also went missing. In the meantime, Dame Juliana has spent over a decade working on a large group sculpture "Midsummer Night'," a work in progress with no end in sight and few people have seen the pieces. Public opinion is Dame J is suffering from artistic block but of course it's much more fascinating and complicated than that.

During Dame J's annual summer art classes, Gill Sharma shows up---but she is really Gillian Shaw an Olympic running hopeful who has had her career literally smashed in a car accident. Gill comes to Cairndonan to rent the estate's charming Robin Cottage to recuperate/hide (not to take art classes). Gill's only goal in life has been to be an exceptional runner and since the accident is in chronic pain and completely adrift.

There is Peta, an Aetherial who is teaching a mask-making class at Cairndonan. She is from Cloudcroft; the village that was the center of Warrington's previous novel "Elfland." She is a catalyst for a lot of the action in the story - lively sprite whose nosiness gets her involved in the lives around her, especially Dame J and the reclusive Gill. Because she is an Aetherial, she becomes the point person for explaining the eccentricities of the Otherworld to her human friends.

There is also Colin, a budding sculptor who is enamored of Dame J and Ned and Flora all of whom work at Cairndonan at various jobs to keep the place running. Ned is slavishly devoted to Dame J and obsessively does what he can to keep the Dubh Sidhe (the Aetherials) from interfering at the estate. He is married to Flora, the mother of the missing two-year-old.

And then there is Rufus Dionys Ephenaestus. A rogue Aetherial who has spent thousands of years indulging himself in perversity, monstrous acts and even genocide and is thoroughly entertained by humans and their world. He is compared to Loki in the novel by one character and the comparison is apt. A master of chaos and malicious mischievousness---he acts as if all his antics are charming. He is devastatingly handsome and is very fond of manipulation through sex.

Outrageous and compelling, he is the lively colorful heart of this story - even if he is a deviant monster. A lot of the Aetherials (and most of the humans) want to see him thrown into the Abyss for his heinous crimes.

Seem a bit confusing? Sometimes. There are lots of characters to keep track of and who is related to whom gets very interesting at the end. But as with "Elfland," it is the multiple layers of the author's characters, flawed and fascinating that keep the novel so involving. Warrington's Aetherials are vividly imperfect and are more complex than a lot of fantasy creations. "Midsummer Night" is worth the cover price (as is "Elfland.") And there is a third novel to come. ~~ Sue Martin