Eight Ghosts by eight different authors (English Heritage compilation)

I love reading ghost stories and gothic books in the summer, so this purchase at a castle in Cornwall was the perfect sunny day read.

Each story is inspired by a heritage site and there’s also some legends of haunted places as the end, making it a nice mixture of literary talent and historic place.

With the likes of Sarah Perry, Jeannette Winterson, and Kamila Shamsie, this is no thrown together collection of cheap thrills, these stories are evocative, entertaining, and chilling. I loved the one about Scottish prisoners of war during the Jacobean war (Andrew Michael Hurley) and the one inspired by Pendennis Castle in Falmouth (Winterson).

Here’s a full list of authors and places:

• Sarah Perry: Audley End
• Max Porter: Eltham Palace
• Andrew Michael Hurley: Carlisle Castle
• Mark Haddon: York Cold War Bunker
• Stuart Evers: Dover Castle
• Jeanette Winterson: Pendennis Castle
• Kate Clanchy: Housesteads
• Kamila Shamsie: Kenilworth Castle

A meaty anthology with some interesting historic essays and a discussion of ghosts in general that pad out the mysteries.

Well worth hunting down.

One word: evocative.