Flory is stranded. A bat bit off her wings, and now she has landed, alone and scared, in a giant's garden to fend for herself. All she has is her magic-and since she is just a baby fairy, she doesn't even have much of that. Flory is a night fairy, but her encounter with the bat has made her frightened of the nighttime. Instead, she tries hard to be a day fairy. Flory soon finds ways to survive; namely, she learns how to be prickly and uses her magic to dominate the stupid, hungry squirrel Skuggle. Away from the company of other fairies, Flory doesn't even realize how rude she is growing; and as she hides from the nighttime, she doesn't know that the bat who destroyed her wings is searching for her to make amends.

Child readers who enjoy fairy stories (that is, both stories about fairies and fairy tales) will like reading this delicately illustrated novel. The tone, characters, and plot structure are all reminiscent of turn-of-the-century classic fantasy, complete with gentle asides to the reader and commentaries on Flory's manners. The intricate illustrations contribute a great deal of the magic in this book.