The Winter Spirits – Bridget Collins, Imogen Hermes Gowar, Natasha Pulley, Jess Kidd, Andrew Michael Hurley, Elizabeth Macneal, Laura Purcell, Kiran Millwood Hargrave, Stuart Turton, Catriona Ward, Laura Shepherd-Robinson, Susan Stokes-Chapman – Bookshine And Readbows

Welcome to the twenty-second of my ‘Calendar Chaos’ posts, in which I take the books I received in my 2024 book advent – each cover representing a different period of time – and review them for you!

Closing November (better late than never!) is WINTER and the book is The Winter Spirits by Bridget Collins, Imogen Hermes Gowar, Natasha Pulley, Jess Kidd, Andrew Michael Hurley, Elizabeth Macneal, Laura Purcell, Kiran Millwood Hargrave, Stuart Turton, Catriona Ward, Laura Shepherd-Robinson, Susan Stokes-Chapman.

Read on to find out more…

Blurb: The tradition of a haunted tale at Christmas has flourished across the centuries. These twelve stories – authored by some of today’s most loved and lauded writers of historical and gothic fiction – are all centred around Christmas or Advent, boldly and playfully re-imagining a beloved tradition for a modern audience.

Taking you from a haunted Tuscan villa to a remote Scottish island with a dark secret,, these vibrant haunted stories are your ultimate companion for frosty nights.

So curl up, light a candle, and fall under the spell of winters past . . .

Review: I do love a good ghost story, especially as the chillier nights draw in, and this is twelve exquisite examples of the genre.

Each story is themed around Christmas/Advent with a paranormal slant, but each is different – from Gothic morality tales to hauntingly sad salt stacks; monstrous lies and lying monsters; plays, possession and punishments; the master of the house, to a literally masterful, handmade fan – I savoured every single treat.

My personal favourite story here was Natasha Pulley’s ‘The Salt Miracles’, because it felt different in tone, full of melancholy and regret and desperate hope against the evidence, and I enjoyed meeting a different kind of spirit than the ghosts and monsters stalking the other stories. But there honestly wasn’t a single story here that I would pick out as being ‘less good’; I enjoyed all of them.

The writing throughout the collection is as beautifully crafted as the tales (I would expect nothing less from the authors included in this collection) and really lends itself to taking the stories slowly, one at a time, and giving them chance to sink in (or seep into your nightmares) so the book makes an ideal, cosily spooky Christmas countdown for this time of year.

I’m going to have to pick up The Haunting Season now too, as I suspect that re-reading these short stories between Halloween and Christmas could be a lovely new seasonal tradition… a mug of tea, a snuggly blanket, cat on my lap and ghosts on the brain. Sounds like a hauntingly happy Christmas to me!