The Pin Jar

by Sam Reid

A story-cycle from the deep taproot of the Sussex ‘Weald’, The Pin Jar is a record of vernacular folk tales as transcribed by the enigmatic composer and amateur ethnographer Francis J. Cardwell, who habitually, compulsively, taped the various stories and songs he encountered in the now lost pubs of his county. Earthy, half-haunted, dialect-rich—this is the true stuff of deep weird England. SAM REID’S beguiling debut presents us with the folk process of story-telling and song reimagined as a radical literary experiment and fictional archive of place-memory.

Genres: Poetry, Horror

180 pages, Paperback

Published October 2, 2025

Reviews

[Frazer Lee]

This wonderful debut novel blends quiet and folk horror to immersive and unsettling effect. Voice, and vocalising, drive each of the tellings, transporting you beside the hearthside of some remote, rural inn. The footnotes and glossary imbue the writing with an authenticity that makes the book feel like a genuine field journal, an artefact. To paraphrase W.F. Harvey, “I will tell you what has always frightened me most
[…] the lurking belief that the story’s the truth.” The Pin Jar is the most ‘Garneresque’ thing I’ve read since Alan Garner, whilst also being utterly unique. Take it with you on your next expedition, and it will return the favour.

[Francesca Wigley]

weird folk horror in verse from the Sussex Weald, best read murmured aloud

[??]

A strange book about folk tales from the English countryside. I loved the writing style but felt a bit confused by the latter two stories, as no summary was provided like with the first.

[Mick Canning]

This is a marvellous debut novel. A short collection of folk horror stories written in Sussex dialect as heard and collected by the fictitious ethnographer Francis Cardwell in Sussex pubs.