It is 1381. England, reeling from plague and years of conflict abroad, is a tinderbox waiting to spark. Two childhood friends ride into the town of Brentwood, Essex, where they come upon an altercation with a local Justice bent on squeezing more coin from the masses. Thus begins a rebellion of the common folk - loyal to the king, but not to those wealthy landowners who curtail their freedoms; the multitude finding cause against the powers that threaten their livelihoods.Set over si...

Inspired by Giles Gordon and David Hughes's Best Short Stories series, which ran to ten volumes between 1986 and 1995, Best British Short Stories this year reaches its thirteenth volume.Best British Short Stories 2023 showcases an excellent and varied selection of stories, by British writers, first published during 2022 in magazines, journals, anthologies, collections, chapbooks and online.This new anthology contains stories by Alinah Azadeh, Davi...

'A masterful collection' MAXINE PEAKE'Astonishing and long overdue, you really need to read this’ ALAN MOORE**'**An absolute treat' ADAM S. LESLIEUnleash the dark and delirious with this electrifying anthology of folk horror from some of Britain's most iconic working-class voicesA phonograph cylinder that plays on a loop for eternity, casting out ghostly spectres of violence; a centuries-old s...

'It does not matter what is true, or not true. All that matters is what is written down.'Essex, 1643. In the quiet town of Manningtree, most of the men have gone to fight in the Civil War. With food running out and boredom setting in, seventeen-year-old Rebecca West longs for something, anything to happen.When a tragic incident involving a local boy coincides with the arrival of the mysterious Matthew Hopkins, the town is plunged into discord. As suspicion and fear...

'It does not matter what is true, or not true. All that matters is what is written down.'Essex, 1643. In the quiet town of Manningtree, most of the men have gone to fight in the Civil War. With food running out and boredom setting in, seventeen-year-old Rebecca West longs for something, anything to happen.When a tragic incident involving a local boy coincides with the arrival of the mysterious Matthew Hopkins, the town is plunged into discord. As suspicion and fear...

Shortlisted for the 1974 Booker Prize, and with a new introduction by A. K. Blakemore, a razor-sharp and mercilessly funny novel of friendship, class and desire.Freda and Brenda divide the bed they share with a barricade of books, then spend their days working side by side in an Italian-run wine-bottling factory. A picnic out at Windsor Park for the two women and their colleagues offers promise for Freda and terror for Brenda. Passions run high before coming to a b...

Sister Perpetue is not to move. She is not to fall asleep. She is to sit, keeping guard over the patient's room. She has heard the stories of his hunger, which defy belief: that he has eaten all manner of creatures and objects. A child even, if the rumours are to be believed. But it is hard to believe that this slender, frail man is the one they once called The Great Tarare, The Glutton of Lyon.Before, he was just Tarare. Well-meaning and hopelessly curious, born into a world of br...

WINNER OF THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZEFear and destruction take root in a community of women when the Witchfinder General comes to town, in this dark and thrilling debut.England, 1643. Parliament is battling the King; the war between the Roundheads and the Cavaliers rages. Puritanical fervour has gripped the nation, and the hot terror of damnation burns black in every shadow.In Manningtree, depleted of men since the wars began, the wom...

Brought to you by Penguin.Unleash the dark and delirious with this electrifying anthology of folk horror from some of Britain's most iconic working-class voicesA phonograph cylinder that plays on a loop for eternity, casting out ghostly spectres of violence; a centuries-old stew made of severed body parts; a bigoted woman working at an ossuary, the bones she watches over her only remaining friends; three siblings who set out to scatter thei...

England, 1643. Parliament is battling the King; the war between the Roundheads and the Cavaliers rages. Puritanical fervour has gripped the nation, and the hot terror of damnation burns black in every shadow. In Manningtree, depleted of men since the wars began, the women are left to their own devices. At the margins of this diminished community are those who are barely tolerated by the affluent villagers - the old, the poor, the unmarried, the sharp-tongued. Rebecca West, daughter of the ...