Enter this short collection and immerse yourself in the dark side of an ancient Scottish village:
- where the Baba Witch hunts for lost children in the forest,
- where spiders torment sinners in the castle dungeon,
- where the Devil rides with the Highlees Witches,
- where dead smugglers seek revenge on the living,
- and where Lady Eglinton of Auchans trains her rats to dance
The village of Dundonald lies on the west coast of Scotland in Ayrshire, 30 miles south of Glasgow. Its central hill, first settled in the Bronze Age, is the site of a Royal Stewart castle.
Dundonald directly experienced the Wars of Independence, the Reformation, witch trials, Covenanters, and the smuggling trade. As such, it is rich in archaeology and industrial heritage as well as the Scots language, literature, and folklore.
Each of these five gothic tales is followed by a short essay on its historical inspiration and concludes with an extensive bibliography.
Jadual kandungan
The Baba Witch p.1
Ae Fond Kiss p.16
Devil of Loudoun Hill p.24
Ait the Smuggler’s Grave p.29
The Auchans Pear p.37
About the Writer p.45
About the Illustrator p.45
Bibliography p.46
Mengenai Pengarang
Suzy A. Kelly was born in Ayrshire. Her work is rooted in the folklore, history, and languages of Scotland.
She is prose winner of the 2017 Imprint Writing Awards and holds an MLitt in Creative Writing (Distinction) from the University of Glasgow. Her work has been published in Gutter and by the British Fantasy Society. In 2018, her short story ‘Thrum’ was selected for inclusion in A. L. Kennedy’s short story masterclass in St Andrews.
Suzy lives near Kilmarnock with her two cats and a bearded collie called Wooster.