The Mistletoe Bride and Other Haunting Tales
2 journalers for this copy...
I got this UK-edition softcover from Better World Books. It's a collection of the author's short stories, quite a few written for this book, with inspirations ranging from specific locations to tales from English and French folklore. (The author notes at the end of each tale describe the specific inspirations, and Rohan Daniel Eason's illustrations at the beginning of each tale enhance them.) Among my favorites:
"The Mistletoe Bride" is a ghost story based on a number of ballads and legends about a bride who hid in a chest during a party game of hide-and-seek, only to be trapped there, leaving her disappearance a mystery until, decades later, her skeleton is found. I've always loved that story - so deliciously creepy and tragic - despite the unlikelihood of so desperate a search for a missing young woman failing to turn up a chest large enough to conceal her. Anyway, this story is told from the viewpoint of her ghost...
"The Drowned Village" features a lonely boy who's distressed by his parents' neglect and drunkenness, and runs away to hide in a cave on the seashore. From there he becomes a witness to an unusual and unnerving ritual - the local people meeting the residents of the long-drowned village off the coast, to renew their special flame... Could be utterly terrifying, but it's rather touching.
"La Fille de Mélisande" was inspired by Debussy's opera Pelléas et Mélisande, and features the daughter of the doomed Mélisande as she grows up to seek vengeance on the man who killed her - who is also her own father. (Several of the other stories also include women who've put up with bad treatment for too long, and who find some kind of mysterious or ghostly aid in seeing a way out.)
"On Harting Hill" is an atmospheric little ghost story that recalls many "ghostly hitchhiker" tales - though the author doesn't name those among her inspirations, mentioning a dark, foggy night and narrow roads instead.
"The Yellow Scarf" involves a woman who finds herself able to see historical events involving the tragic death of a young bride when her husband's enemies attacked. And, in a rare twist, the onlooker from the future somehow manages to exert just enough influence through time to spare a life...
The book also includes a short play, "Syrinx," in which three women, once close friends, since divided by tragedy, try to find their way back. (I was intrigued to find that the play was commissioned by Sandi Toksvig, whom I knew as one of the presenters on "The Great British Bake Off" along with Noel Fielding.)
"The Mistletoe Bride" is a ghost story based on a number of ballads and legends about a bride who hid in a chest during a party game of hide-and-seek, only to be trapped there, leaving her disappearance a mystery until, decades later, her skeleton is found. I've always loved that story - so deliciously creepy and tragic - despite the unlikelihood of so desperate a search for a missing young woman failing to turn up a chest large enough to conceal her. Anyway, this story is told from the viewpoint of her ghost...
"The Drowned Village" features a lonely boy who's distressed by his parents' neglect and drunkenness, and runs away to hide in a cave on the seashore. From there he becomes a witness to an unusual and unnerving ritual - the local people meeting the residents of the long-drowned village off the coast, to renew their special flame... Could be utterly terrifying, but it's rather touching.
"La Fille de Mélisande" was inspired by Debussy's opera Pelléas et Mélisande, and features the daughter of the doomed Mélisande as she grows up to seek vengeance on the man who killed her - who is also her own father. (Several of the other stories also include women who've put up with bad treatment for too long, and who find some kind of mysterious or ghostly aid in seeing a way out.)
"On Harting Hill" is an atmospheric little ghost story that recalls many "ghostly hitchhiker" tales - though the author doesn't name those among her inspirations, mentioning a dark, foggy night and narrow roads instead.
"The Yellow Scarf" involves a woman who finds herself able to see historical events involving the tragic death of a young bride when her husband's enemies attacked. And, in a rare twist, the onlooker from the future somehow manages to exert just enough influence through time to spare a life...
The book also includes a short play, "Syrinx," in which three women, once close friends, since divided by tragedy, try to find their way back. (I was intrigued to find that the play was commissioned by Sandi Toksvig, whom I knew as one of the presenters on "The Great British Bake Off" along with Noel Fielding.)
Journal Entry 2 by 
GoryDetails
at Main Street (see notes for details) in Sturbridge, Massachusetts USA on Tuesday, June 28, 2022
GoryDetails at Main Street (see notes for details) in Sturbridge, Massachusetts USA on Tuesday, June 28, 2022
Released 1 yr ago (6/28/2022 UTC) at Main Street (see notes for details) in Sturbridge, Massachusetts USA
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
I plan to leave this book outside BT's Smokehouse while stopping by with friends for some of their delicious BBQ. Hope someone enjoys the book! [See other recent releases in MA here.]
** Released for the 2022 June Brides challenge. **
just found it, plan to bring it back home to the cape. hopefully someone will get joy out of it there. much thanks
