Published By: Mabecron Books
Pages: 200
Released On: 17/06/2024
Well known authors join with debut as they weave tales of a Cornwall steeped in strange goings on – where ghostly figures haunt cliff paths and holiday cottages alike.
*****
Thanks to Nicola Smith for the gifted copy of this book.
I love Cornwall but I’ve never thought of it as a setting for ghostly stories, but when I think about it, it can have an eerie quality about it which lends well to the genre.
Ghosts don’t scare me. I believe in them and I have no problem with them. Ghost stories on the other hand? Generally scare me because I am a complete wuss.
The stories are a good length, some are shorter or longer than others but overall they’re just right. The stories aren’t stretched out but there’s enough for you to get a foot hold in them.
I’d have liked a few more modern ones I know the isolation and the fear of the past, ancient locations and old ghosts etc. add to the ghostliness, but they did start to get a bit too similar in the end. I know there are some modern ones, which is fine, but I’d have liked a more event balance.
I might be a wuss but these were generally pleasant to read and didn’t particularly frighten me.
I won’t comment on each story but these three were probably my preferred ones:
The Blind Spots by Kate Riordan: This started off quite freaky, the sense of space and atmosphere Kate created, but I felt it got less freaky as it went on. And I think that’s because I believe in ghosts and am happy if loved ones revisited me, and so on that front I found it quite cosy as it went on, which I understand is a bit of a weird response to a ghost story but there we are.
The Todden by Emma Cowell: This didn’t feel too much like a ghost story to me, not compared to some of the others in this collection, but I didn’t mind that. Emma has infused it with a lot of heart, which I enjoyed more than if she’d packed it full of frights.
Celia by Graham Mitchell: This is a ghost story in the sense that there is a ghost, so that’s a green tick. But it has elements of other genres about it. It looks at a relationship and how grief can differ from person to person.
Not a book I would have chosen for myself, but I’m glad to have read it – and it’s put a few more authors on my radar.
Books By Your Bedside 