As usual with these books, there is a mix of famous and lesser known authors, with each story or poem having its own introduction, although in this book these were too academic for my taste and the editors’ favourite word seemed to be ‘liminal’.

Generally I enjoyed these 20 texts. They had a strong sense of place and a sense of dread. Here’s what’s included in the collection, with my favourites marked.

‘The Haunted Beach’ by Mary Robinson – a gothic poem about the ghost of a fisherman.

‘Two Sonnets’ by Charlotte Smith – gloom-laden poetry reminiscent of Mary Shelley.

‘Narrative of a Fatal Event’ by Anon – sad tale of guilt and friendship with a natural history theme.

‘The Strange Student’ by Anon – enchantment and horror on the Scottish coast.*

‘What Was It?’ by Anon – wordy yarn about sea monsters.

‘One Day at Arle’ by Frances Hodgson Burnett – intensely emotional story with a lot of dialect.

‘Two Folk Tales’ by James Bowker – a dark fairytale and a shiver-inducing gothic tale.

‘The Last of Squire Ennismore’ by Charlotte Riddell – truly haunting story with a moral message.*

‘Legends’ by H D Lowry – grim and creepy tale of the damned.

‘A Ghost of the Sea’ by Francis Prevost – a bizarre story in four parts.

‘Crooken Sands’ by Bram Stoker – entertaining Scottish-themed tale.

‘The Sea Raiders’ by H G Wells – fabulously Wellsian adventure about an invasion of man-eating giant squid.*

‘The Sea Fit’ by Algernon Blackwood – sinister slow-burning tale of ancient beings.

‘Where the Tides Ebb and Flow’ by Lord Dunsany – a brilliant apocalyptic vision.*

‘Four Folk Tales’ by Sophia Morrison – some interesting Manx myths.

‘Out of the Earth’ by Arthur Machen – very odd story about scary children and the First World War.

‘A Tale of an Empty House’ by E F Benson – excellent example of a traditional ghost story.*

‘On the Isle of Blue Men’ by Robert W Sneddon – horrible squid people attacking a lighthouse.

‘Seashore Macabre: A Moment’s Experience’ by Hugh Walpole – unexpected combination of holiday nostalgia with gothic horror.

‘A Coast-Nightmare’ by Christina Rosetti – terrifying apocalyptic poem.

As you can ‘sea’, I was very impressed with five of the stories. I thought that ‘beach’ one was worth [sea] ‘weeding’, however. I recommend you spend a few ‘squid’ on this ‘sand’-sensational book. If you’re a fan of classic supernatural fiction, I’m ‘shore’ that you’ll enjoy it.

First published in 2022.

The collection has a general introduction and contains 12 stories, each with a spoiler-free mini introduction. I liked that the stories all had real settings around Great Britain and some of them had that ‘sitting around a merrily crackling fire on a winter’s evening’ atmosphere associated with traditional ghost stories. However, the only pieces which really stood out for me were those by Edith Nesbit and Algernon Blackwood. One of the good things about collections like this is that authors who were popular in the 19th and early 20th centuries but have since become obscure are now being presented to us for rediscovery, so it was interesting to read some of these authors for the first time.

‘The Whisper in the Wood’ by Anon is a terrifically gothic story of a father and son.

‘Man-Size in Marble’ by Edith Nesbit – cautionary tale of why we should heed old legends.

‘The Striding Place’ by Gertrude Atherton – didn’t enjoy the writing style or the ending.

‘The Man Who Went Too Far’ by E F Benson is Dorian Gray-esque and intensely wordy.

‘An Old Thorn’ by W H Hudson – didn’t quite understand this one.

‘The White Lady of Rownam Avenue’ by Elliot O’Donnell – traditional ghost story presented as truth.

‘Ancient Lights’ by Algernon Blackwood is an amusing story of a forest which deals with trespassers.

‘The Name-Tree’ by Mary Webb – feminist tale of a cherry tree.

‘The Tree’ by Walter de la Mare is very wordy and is about a fruit merchant.

“He Made a Woman” by Marjorie Bowen – strange tale of scientists and magicians.

‘A Neighbour’s Landmark’ by M R James is long-winded with an underwhelming ending.

‘N’ by Arthur Machen has a good concept but took many pages to reach it.

In summary, this collection was disappointing for me but I’d recommend it if you’re looking for folklore stories about trees and nothing frightening.

Published in 2020.