British Folklore

From the dark centuries of British prehistory to the ninth century AD, comes tales of giants and fairy-folk of druids and saints. From King Lear and King Arthur, to Fingal, Beowulf, Gwendolen, and Guinevere legendary characters have shaped the making of the nation. But who were they? In Mythology of the British Isles, Geoffrey Ashe explores how each of these stories are inter-connected, and how they have taken on fresh significance and meaning as historical and archaeological research has uncovered the truth behind each legend.

The must-read exploration of the earliest human ghost stories from leading expert Irvine Finkel, author of The Ark Before Noah 'It's enthralling stuff, mixing the scholarly with the accessible and placing storytelling right at the heart of the human experience.' - History Revealed There are few...

This fascinating audiobook is the first volume in a projected cultural history of the United States, from the earliest English settlements to our own time. It is a history of American folkways as they have changed through time, and it argues a thesis about the importance for the United States of having been British in its cultural origins. While most people in the United States today have no British ancestors, they have assimilated regional cultures which were created by British colonists, even while preserving ethnic identities at the same time.

Discover the gods, goddesses, heroes, and monsters from Celtic mythology with this beautiful book that captures the ancient stories and tales that captivated the Celts. Prepare to be entertained as you learn about the many myths and legends of the Celtic people. From the storytelling duo behind...

This set includes all five Folklore books in the series! Kidnapped by Her Bigfoot, Loved by Her Yeti, Claimed by Her Sasquatch, Rescued by His Mermaid, and Chasing Her Unicorn. Join these couples as they go out searching for folklore characters and find their "happily ever afters", instead.

On Christmas morning in the 1640s, a Scottish minister walked through his parish and looked inside every house in it. He was checking that nobody had roasted a goose. That is British midwinter folklore as its own records describe it. Not snow and spirits — cold, hunger, obligation, and a great deal of enforcement. A household in Shropshire is still blamed, a century later, for an avalanche that killed its neighbours, because it once lent a man a light. A young woman stands in a Nottinghamshire street at one in the morning, locked out of her own home until a male relative can be found to ...

"Narrator JD Jackson addresses his listener as "bro" in this decidedly contemporary retelling of the classic saga...His brilliant performance captures all the artistry, wit, and immediacy of this fresh translation, and breathes new life into what for most has been a literary fossil." --...

This omnibus brings together seven of H.E. Bulstrode’s ghost stories originally published between 2016 and 2018. These are: The Ghost of Scarside Beck A newly-wed Cumbrian vicar and his wife experience a night like none they could ever have foreseen. He may have answered his calling, but who, or what, is calling her? Old Crotchet The year is 1920, and it's Twelfth Night by the old reckoning. Festivities are about to commence at Hinton St Cuthbert Manor when something sinister stirs from its protracted dormancy, awakened, it would seem, by the arrival of two young guests. The old ways, ...

A short look at mythology and folklore connected with Stonehenge, the world's most famous stone circle, and with other megalithic monuments. Who is the sinister 'Bowed One' and what relationship do the bones of a silver-handed saint have to an Irish deity of healing, mist and dogs? Did a Man in the Moon stare down at Stonehenge, and a female sun ride across the skies in a chariot with spoked wheels...or was it the reverse? Howling blue hags with single eyes bleary as the setting Midwinter Solstice sun; dancing stones drinking at the river; petrified women, wedding guests and hurlers; ...

When a folklore PhD student begins researching Britain's ancient stone circles, she doesn't expect them to research her in return. Twenty-eight-year-old researcher arrives at Stonehenge before dawn, camera ready, academic theories prepared. What she isn't prepared for are the handprints that appear on her chest when she touches the stones, or the way time begins to slip, or the realisation that she's been marked for this moment since childhood. The stones are counting, and she's being added to their tally. Across twenty-three days, she visits twelve ancient monuments—from Stonehenge to ...

Morris dancing, maypoles and…murder As the picturesque village of Upper Outwell buzzes with anticipation for its May Day festivities—complete with Morris dancers, flower garlands, and enough Victoria sponge cakes to require emergency reinforcement of the trestle tables—a shadow falls over the celebrations. A man is discovered dead in the vicarage library, his identity as enigmatic as the circumstances of his murder. Who was he? Why was he killed? Kit and Mary Aston, a sharp-witted husband-and-wife duo with an uncanny talent for uncovering trouble, investigate. Alongside them is ...

Rebel Folklore gathers 50 of the darkest and most complicated folktale characters from around the world, showing readers why we should care about the rebels and misfits of ancient stories. Folktales were humble stories, passed down generations by those on the fringes of society: women, peasants...

Brought to you by Penguin. Following his acclaimed Sunday Times bestseller, Lancelot, Giles Kristian's new novel returns us to the realms of Arthurian legend . . . Britain is a land riven by anarchy, slaughter, famine, filth and darkness. Its armies are destroyed, its heroes dead, or missing...

When the bite heals, the nightmares begin. When the moon rises, the hunger takes hold. And when the blood spills, the city remembers. Mick Carter thought he was just another man trying to survive Newcastle’s grey streets — until the night something tore into him beneath the bridge. Now, as bodies wash up along the Tyne, he feels the animal stirring beneath his skin… and the river whispering his name. Greyheart is a brutal, beautiful tale of lycanthropy, loss, and the things a city hides beneath its bones. For readers of The Howling, Let the Right One In, and The Ritual.

This volume contains all 22 of the fictional ghost stories previously published by H.E. Bulstrode between 2016 and 2022, although it omits his occult fiction. Drawing heavily upon British folklore, legend and history, these stories tap into a deep and shadowy past which seeps, sometimes erupts, into the present, whether that ‘present’ should be eleventh-century England, or today. These are ghost stories with a twist written in the ‘classic’ vein, which is to say that they contain not so much gore as a sense of the uncanny, often steeped in antiquarianism. Others possess a distinctly...

Wicker Man meets Final Destination in Jennifer Thorne's atmospheric, unsettling folk horror novel about love, duty, and community. On the idyllic island of Lute, every seventh summer, seven people die. No more, no less. Lute and its inhabitants are blessed, year after year, with good weather...

Malachi Hunter believes in ghosts. In fact, he’s obsessed with the supernatural, and it’s made him a socially isolated loner. Then a chance encounter with a girl who remembers his dubious reputation from school, and who needs his help, leads him to investigate a haunted house. Although things don’t exactly go according to plan, Mal’s still determined to become a paranormal investigator. Fiercely independent single mum Teena Maunder believed that she could cope with anything; until a terrifying and baffling haunting starts in her home. Desperate for help, she turns to her policeman ...

Step back into a land of plague, prophecy, and whispers that burn. In Ashes of the Sick, acclaimed horror writer Silas Toombs brings you ten terrifying folk horror short stories from the darkest corners of Old England—where disease isn’t always the deadliest curse. Meet plague doctors who walk with shadows, scarecrows who remember too much, spectral bellmen, witchfinders, and ancient spirits that dwell beneath stagnant waters. From fog-choked moors to crumbling cottages, each tale drips with historical dread, blending superstition and survival in an era ruled by faith, fear, and ...

Discover the world's greatest myths and legends - from Greek mythology to Norse mythology - in this comprehensive guide. What did Japanese mythology say about the beginning of the Universe? How did Oedipus become the classic tragic hero in Greek mythology? Who brought about the origin of death...

In this beautifully illustrated guide, bring the power of ancient tradition to the modern world, and reconnect with nature and yourself through traditional folk wisdom. Organized around the pagan wheel of the year, The Ancient Ways introduces readers to the natural rhythms that governed our...