The English Ghost: Spectres Through Time - Hardcover

Ackroyd, Peter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0701169893 ISBN 13: 9780701169893

Publisher: Chatto & Windus, 2010

Synopsis

An enormously enjoyable spooky collection of ghost-sightings over the centuries, full of the spirit of place, in true Ackroyd style.

The English, Peter Ackroyd tells us in this fascinating collection, see more ghosts than any other nation. Each region has its own particular spirits, from the Celtic ghosts of Cornwall to the dobies and boggarts of the north. Some speak and some are silent, some smell of old leather, others of fragrant thyme. From medieval times to today stories have been told and apparitions seen -- ghosts who avenge injustice, souls who long for peace, spooks who just want to have fun.

The English Ghost is a treasury of such sightings which we can believe or not, as we will. The accounts, packed with eerie detail, range from the door-slamming, shrieking ghost of Hinton Manor in the 1760s and the moaning child that terrified Wordsworth's nephew at Cambridge, to the headless bear of Kidderminster, the violent daemon of Devon who tried to strangle a man with his cravat and the modern-day hitchhikers on Bluebell Hill. Comical and scary, like all good ghost stories, these curious incidents also plumb the depths of the English psyche in its yearnings for justice, freedom and love.

About this title

About the Author:

PETER ACKROYD is internationally known as a novelist and cultural historian. His non-fiction books include Albion: The Origin of the English Imagination, the prize-winning London: a Biography, and most recently Venice: City of Life.

Review:

"Ackroyd's book has its fair share of terrified hauntees and, unless you're a sceptic, there are plenty of scenes that will make the hairs on the back of your neck bristle."
— Mail on Sunday

"Ackroyd's collection glides seamlessly from terror to humour to downright peculiarity: it is the ideal read as the nights darken and Halloween approaches."
— Metro

"This is a wonderful little book. It's properly old-fashioned and unorthodox, a scrapbook of clues, tittle-tattle, hints and mortal byways."
— Independent
From the Trade Paperback edition.

About this edition

• Publisher: Chatto & Windus
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0701169893
• ISBN 13: 9780701169893
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 288