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Fireside Gothic
From the No.1 bestselling author of The American Boy and The Ashes of London comes a collection of three gothic novellas – Broken Voices, The Leper House and The Scratch – perfect for fans of The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley.
BROKEN VOICES
It’s Christmas before the Great War and two lonely schoolboys have been forced into companionship. Left in the care of an elderly teacher, there is little to do but listen to his eerie tales about the nearby Cathedral. The boys concoct a plan to discover if the stories are true. But the Cathedral is filled with hidden dangers, and curiosity can prove fatal.
THE LEPER HOUSE
One stormy night in Suffolk, a man’s car breaks down following his sister’s funeral. The only source of light comes from a remote cottage by the sea. The mysterious woman who lives there begs him to leave, yet he can’t shake the sense that she somehow needs him. He attempts to return the next day but she is nowhere to be seen. And neither is the cottage.
THE SCRATCH
Clare and Gerald live a perfect life in the Forest of Dean with their cat, Cannop. Then Gerald’s young nephew comes to stay. Jack is from another world – active service in Afghanistan. The experience has left him outwardly untouched, but for a scratch that won’t heal. Jack and Cannop don't like each other. Clare and Jack like each other too much. The scratch begins to fester.
BROKEN VOICES
It’s Christmas before the Great War and two lonely schoolboys have been forced into companionship. Left in the care of an elderly teacher, there is little to do but listen to his eerie tales about the nearby Cathedral. The boys concoct a plan to discover if the stories are true. But the Cathedral is filled with hidden dangers, and curiosity can prove fatal.
THE LEPER HOUSE
One stormy night in Suffolk, a man’s car breaks down following his sister’s funeral. The only source of light comes from a remote cottage by the sea. The mysterious woman who lives there begs him to leave, yet he can’t shake the sense that she somehow needs him. He attempts to return the next day but she is nowhere to be seen. And neither is the cottage.
THE SCRATCH
Clare and Gerald live a perfect life in the Forest of Dean with their cat, Cannop. Then Gerald’s young nephew comes to stay. Jack is from another world – active service in Afghanistan. The experience has left him outwardly untouched, but for a scratch that won’t heal. Jack and Cannop don't like each other. Clare and Jack like each other too much. The scratch begins to fester.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2016
44 people are currently reading
404 people want to read
About the author
Andrew Taylor
61 books724 followersAndrew Taylor (b. 1951) is a British author of mysteries. Born in East Anglia, he attended university at Cambridge before getting an MA in library sciences from University College London. His first novel, Caroline Miniscule (1982), a modern-day treasure hunt starring history student William Dougal, began an eight-book series and won Taylor wide critical acclaim. He has written several other thriller series, most notably the eight Lydmouthbooks, which begin with An Air That Kills (1994).
His other novels include The Office of the Dead (2000) and The American Boy (2003), both of which won the Crime Writers’ Association of Britain’s Ellis Peters Historical Dagger award, making Taylor the only author to receive the prize twice. His Roth trilogy, which has been published in omnibus form as Requiem for an Angel (2002), was adapted by the UK’s ITV for its television show Fallen Angel. Taylor’s most recent novel is the historical thriller The Scent of Death (2013).
His other novels include The Office of the Dead (2000) and The American Boy (2003), both of which won the Crime Writers’ Association of Britain’s Ellis Peters Historical Dagger award, making Taylor the only author to receive the prize twice. His Roth trilogy, which has been published in omnibus form as Requiem for an Angel (2002), was adapted by the UK’s ITV for its television show Fallen Angel. Taylor’s most recent novel is the historical thriller The Scent of Death (2013).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews
November 17, 2016
The evocative title is absolutely perfect for this collection of three stories, all of which have previously been published as Kindle Singles – and all of which had passed me by. I'm glad to have discovered them, particularly as all three are thoroughly my kind of thing.
In Broken Voices, set prior to the First World War, two schoolboys are required to stay at school and lodge with a teacher over the Christmas holidays. One of them is our narrator, whose parents are abroad and whose aunt has fallen ill. The other is the unfortunate Faraday, a former luminary of the choir who has not only been demoted due to losing his voice, but is also in danger of expulsion after being suspected of stealing money from another boy. Thrown together, these unlikely friends quickly develop an obsession with a spooky tale they hear about a composer who died in a fall from the tower of the nearby cathedral. With a deeply beguiling wintery atmosphere, 'Broken Voices' deliberately recalls the classics of the genre, from M.R. James to Susan Hill's updated versions. It's a perfect Christmas ghost story.
The Leper House uses a classic horror set-up: a man loses his way in the dark, his car breaks down, and – this being a modern story – his satnav and phone aren't working. We already know our protagonist isn't a particularly pleasant individual, as the story opens with him attending his sister's funeral, an event he seems to regard mainly as an inconvenience. So our sympathies perhaps aren't with him entirely as he is forced to seek shelter in the home of an eccentric mother and daughter. A strange encounter with a neighbour follows, and the story rather unexpectedly segues into time travel. I enjoyed watching the events of this story unfold with a certain amount of schadenfreude, although there's a little too much infodumping towards the end.
Choosing my favourite of the three is tough, but I think that honour might just go to The Scratch. A middle-aged couple, Clare and Gerald, take in their orphaned nephew Jack, a soldier who's just returned from Afghanistan. He insists on moving into the outhouse, and has an irrational fear of cats, but otherwise seems surprisingly unaffected. The story moves slowly and lacks the obviously ominous feel of the other two, concentrating instead on the development of Clare's relationship with Jack, with one strange element: a scratch on Jack's arm that doesn't seem to heal. In 'The Scratch', Taylor quietly progresses towards a truly uncanny ending, but the strangeness is measured out so carefully, and the characters' relationships – the things Clare and Gerald don't talk about, and the ways in which Jack upends their settled life – remain at the centre of everything. Filled with convincing details, it's an excellent end to a pleasing collection.
I'm not sure about the stated claim that Fireside Gothic is 'perfect for fans of The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley'; that seems like a case of finding a recent well-known novel of the weird to hang a convenient reference on. The stories here are much less wilfully unearthly and vague than The Loney, and I think the comparison might actually put off those who found Hurley's novel frustrating. Taylor's stories have a – yes – fireside cosiness to them; they're unsettling in a way you can take delight in.
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In Broken Voices, set prior to the First World War, two schoolboys are required to stay at school and lodge with a teacher over the Christmas holidays. One of them is our narrator, whose parents are abroad and whose aunt has fallen ill. The other is the unfortunate Faraday, a former luminary of the choir who has not only been demoted due to losing his voice, but is also in danger of expulsion after being suspected of stealing money from another boy. Thrown together, these unlikely friends quickly develop an obsession with a spooky tale they hear about a composer who died in a fall from the tower of the nearby cathedral. With a deeply beguiling wintery atmosphere, 'Broken Voices' deliberately recalls the classics of the genre, from M.R. James to Susan Hill's updated versions. It's a perfect Christmas ghost story.
The Leper House uses a classic horror set-up: a man loses his way in the dark, his car breaks down, and – this being a modern story – his satnav and phone aren't working. We already know our protagonist isn't a particularly pleasant individual, as the story opens with him attending his sister's funeral, an event he seems to regard mainly as an inconvenience. So our sympathies perhaps aren't with him entirely as he is forced to seek shelter in the home of an eccentric mother and daughter. A strange encounter with a neighbour follows, and the story rather unexpectedly segues into time travel. I enjoyed watching the events of this story unfold with a certain amount of schadenfreude, although there's a little too much infodumping towards the end.
Choosing my favourite of the three is tough, but I think that honour might just go to The Scratch. A middle-aged couple, Clare and Gerald, take in their orphaned nephew Jack, a soldier who's just returned from Afghanistan. He insists on moving into the outhouse, and has an irrational fear of cats, but otherwise seems surprisingly unaffected. The story moves slowly and lacks the obviously ominous feel of the other two, concentrating instead on the development of Clare's relationship with Jack, with one strange element: a scratch on Jack's arm that doesn't seem to heal. In 'The Scratch', Taylor quietly progresses towards a truly uncanny ending, but the strangeness is measured out so carefully, and the characters' relationships – the things Clare and Gerald don't talk about, and the ways in which Jack upends their settled life – remain at the centre of everything. Filled with convincing details, it's an excellent end to a pleasing collection.
I'm not sure about the stated claim that Fireside Gothic is 'perfect for fans of The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley'; that seems like a case of finding a recent well-known novel of the weird to hang a convenient reference on. The stories here are much less wilfully unearthly and vague than The Loney, and I think the comparison might actually put off those who found Hurley's novel frustrating. Taylor's stories have a – yes – fireside cosiness to them; they're unsettling in a way you can take delight in.
TinyLetter | Twitter | Instagram | Tumblr
April 23, 2019
Excellent book - all three stories contained within are wonderful. The author says: "They were originally commissioned separately as Kindle Single ebooks and written over several years. With the benefit of hindsight, however, it's obvious that the stories share common themes. Perhaps fate intended them to bring them together all along."
Broken Voices is the story of a young boy left behind in England to attend school while his parents live in India in the years prior to the First World War. It is a story that pierces the heart. For me, this is a favored theme - young boy coping with the job of growing up without proper support. It is a very successful story that includes Christmas memories and ghosts.
The Leper House is a suspenseful tale of taking a wrong turn in a dark rainstorm and experiencing time in a very different way - wonderfully told.
The Scratch explores PTSD in a very English setting adjacent to a forest where unexplained things occur and there are no happy endings.
All three stories are memorable and superb and the hardback book from 2016, Harper Collins is very attractive and would make a good gift. Each of the singles are still available as kindle ebooks as well.
Broken Voices is the story of a young boy left behind in England to attend school while his parents live in India in the years prior to the First World War. It is a story that pierces the heart. For me, this is a favored theme - young boy coping with the job of growing up without proper support. It is a very successful story that includes Christmas memories and ghosts.
The Leper House is a suspenseful tale of taking a wrong turn in a dark rainstorm and experiencing time in a very different way - wonderfully told.
The Scratch explores PTSD in a very English setting adjacent to a forest where unexplained things occur and there are no happy endings.
All three stories are memorable and superb and the hardback book from 2016, Harper Collins is very attractive and would make a good gift. Each of the singles are still available as kindle ebooks as well.
June 25, 2019
Three novellas that have in common that they're ghost stories but, more important for this reader, that they're superb pieces of storytelling. There's a sense of M.R. James about them (indeed, I spotted a "visual quote" from James at one point, albeit involving a cat rather than a dog, and there could easily be others I missed), but the style is reminiscent, too, of other, non-Gothic UK writers like Eric Ambler and Graham Greene. If you're in search of formulaic ghost stories, complete with yer frissons of horror an' stuff, you may find this collection disappointing; only one of the three tales has a sequence designed to frighten, and it's not because of a ghost that it's terrifying. As I say, it's the storytelling itself that's front and center here.
Set in the years leading up to World War I, "Broken Voices" sees two young adolescents stuck over the Christmas break at their Cathedral school. One of them, a chorister whose voice is breaking, is desperate to salvage his good name by rediscovering a long-lost piece of bell music written by a composer who fell to his death in the cathedral before the piece could be performed. There's a sequence in the story that scared the pants off me, and also a truly nauseating account of an afternoon spent ratting. A very satisfying tale, with primary characters it's easy to identify with and a supporting cast of Dickensian types -- in fact, now I think of it, there's something Dickensian about the tale as a whole.
"The Leper House" tells of a man lost in a storm on the way home from a funeral who's given shelter for the night at the home of a strange mother and daughter, and who finds some unanticipated solace in the arms of the woman who's living in squalor in a ramshackle cottage that neighbors their property -- the Leper House of the title. In the morning, though, it becomes apparent that all was not as it seemed. (And, no, nobody's a leper.) For me this was the strongest tale in the collection, although I'm not one hundred percent sure its explanatory denouement altogether makes sense.
In "The Scratch" we meet a middle-aged couple who invite the husband's nephew to their home in the Forest of Dean when he returns from service in Afghanistan with PTSD that takes the odd form of a phobia for cats and a detestation of sleeping in a confined space. And there's an odd scratch on his arm that just won't go away . . . There's one important plot point here that I couldn't quite credit, but otherwise this was again a very strong tale -- and, like the others, beautifully told.
Taylor's prose had me in its grip more or less from page 1 until, with a sigh, I finished the book. It has a kind of musicality to it, a sort of symphonic rhythm that I found immediately captivating. I must make the effort to lay hands on some of his novels.
Set in the years leading up to World War I, "Broken Voices" sees two young adolescents stuck over the Christmas break at their Cathedral school. One of them, a chorister whose voice is breaking, is desperate to salvage his good name by rediscovering a long-lost piece of bell music written by a composer who fell to his death in the cathedral before the piece could be performed. There's a sequence in the story that scared the pants off me, and also a truly nauseating account of an afternoon spent ratting. A very satisfying tale, with primary characters it's easy to identify with and a supporting cast of Dickensian types -- in fact, now I think of it, there's something Dickensian about the tale as a whole.
"The Leper House" tells of a man lost in a storm on the way home from a funeral who's given shelter for the night at the home of a strange mother and daughter, and who finds some unanticipated solace in the arms of the woman who's living in squalor in a ramshackle cottage that neighbors their property -- the Leper House of the title. In the morning, though, it becomes apparent that all was not as it seemed. (And, no, nobody's a leper.) For me this was the strongest tale in the collection, although I'm not one hundred percent sure its explanatory denouement altogether makes sense.
In "The Scratch" we meet a middle-aged couple who invite the husband's nephew to their home in the Forest of Dean when he returns from service in Afghanistan with PTSD that takes the odd form of a phobia for cats and a detestation of sleeping in a confined space. And there's an odd scratch on his arm that just won't go away . . . There's one important plot point here that I couldn't quite credit, but otherwise this was again a very strong tale -- and, like the others, beautifully told.
Taylor's prose had me in its grip more or less from page 1 until, with a sigh, I finished the book. It has a kind of musicality to it, a sort of symphonic rhythm that I found immediately captivating. I must make the effort to lay hands on some of his novels.
January 20, 2022
This was wonderful. I have heard of Andrew Taylor as someone who writes brilliant, historical fiction, but I wasn't really aware he had branched out into ghost stories until recently, There is another of his I would now love to read 'the anatomy of ghosts'? (I think that's the title)
Fireside gothic includes 3 novellas with a suitably spooky tinge to them. The first story really reminded me of many MR James stories, the second reminded me of Neil Spring's 'The Haunted Shore' and the 3rd was a mixture of all sorts of ghosts stories I have loved over the years, but I kept thinking about our resident East Anglian ghost dog 'Black Shuck' throughout. Taylor is wonderful at old-skool ghost stories. He has a knack of setting what appears to be a normal scene, only to draw back the haunted curtain after lulling you into a false sense of security and giving you a deeply unsettled feeling.
I really recommend him, and this.
Fireside gothic includes 3 novellas with a suitably spooky tinge to them. The first story really reminded me of many MR James stories, the second reminded me of Neil Spring's 'The Haunted Shore' and the 3rd was a mixture of all sorts of ghosts stories I have loved over the years, but I kept thinking about our resident East Anglian ghost dog 'Black Shuck' throughout. Taylor is wonderful at old-skool ghost stories. He has a knack of setting what appears to be a normal scene, only to draw back the haunted curtain after lulling you into a false sense of security and giving you a deeply unsettled feeling.
I really recommend him, and this.
April 23, 2022
These are some very decent Gothic stories. I liked The Scratch and The Leper House the best. It was a great listen. I enjoyed the narrators. The narrator of Broken Voices even made me laugh a couple of times (kind of a play on the story's title). Not that the stories are funny by any means. Just straight up Gothic tales. I was impressed with how Taylor brought the Gothic atmosphere even to The Scratch which was obviously set in our contemporary time (most of the Gothic literature I read is set in pre-20th century, or the earlier part of the 20th century).
March 25, 2020
The three stories in this collection were originally published as separate “Kindle Singles” but they complement each other very well. Despite their different settings, they share some overlapping themes. More importantly, they all express the atmosphere of old-fashioned eeriness evoked by the well-chosen title Fireside Gothic. This is not blood-and-gore horror, but the type of other-worldly terror which creeps under the reader’s skin. I’ve read a blurb comparing these stories to Andrew Michael Hurley’s brand of folk horror, The Loney in particular. Even this is widely off the mark. If anything, these works are more similar to the ghostly tales of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries or the sort of pastiche (used in its most positive sense) which you would expect from contemporary authors such as Susan Hill.
A perfect example is the opener – Broken Voices. Set in the years prior to the First World War, its protagonists are two teenage students at a Cathedral school who unexpectedly get to spend the Christmas holidays at their school, lodging with a retired teacher. Inspired by ghostly tales about a long-dead composer haunting the cathedral, the boys set off on a nocturnal hunt for the lost score of an anthem, supposedly the composer’s masterpiece. Unsurprisingly, this turns out to be a bad idea.
The story’s ecclesiastical and scholarly setting is one which M.R. James or E.F. Benson would have found familiar, and reading it gave me the same sort of shivers up the spine which I get from these authors. It helped that I was reading Broken Voices on the first (cold)ish Saturday in my part of the world, and that on the same day I was due to take part in an early Christmas concert. I always savour these types of serendipities which complement the content of a story I’m reading and help me delve into its atmosphere. (I remember the same type of feeling when I was reading Charles Palliser’s The Unburied in December a couple of years back). Indeed, Broken Voices is my favourite in this collection, despite its anticlimactic ending.
The premise of The Leper House is markedly different but, despite its modern trappings (a broken-down car in a remote coastal area with no satnav or phone coverage), it also harks back to a classic trope in ghost stories: on a stormy night, the male narrator visits an old house and meets its intriguing (female) inhabitant but then cannot find the building when he returns to look for it in the sobering light of day. (A similar narrative device is used in Oliver Onions’s The Cigarette Case, a ghost story whose details are strangely identical to a “real-life” incident recounted about an old house in Valletta, Malta. I wonder whether this is a case of art imitating life, or the other way round. But I digress…) I will not give away any further plot details, except to state that Taylor takes this premise to unexpected, genre-bending conclusions.
M.R. James used to say that sex is distracting in a supernatural tale. However, at the heart of The Scratch, is a torrid infatuation between Clare, a middle-aged mother who is more-or-less-happily married to Gerald, and Gerald’s orphaned nephew Jack, who has just returned from Afghanistan suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. The story is narrated by Clare, and her guilty musings about this sudden passion for her disturbed lodger are as involving as the work’s supernatural elements. Elements which, one must say, are vague and, possibly, just the result of the protagonists’ feverish imagination – a scratch on Jack’s arm that refuses to heal, Jack’s unnatural revulsion towards his relatives’ pet cat, and his obsession with a phantom big cat which seems to be roaming the nearby forest (although it’s never actually seen except by Jack himself). This is possibly the most original and off-beat of the three stories but, for me, its effect was dampened by the vagueness of its ending – literally a page-load of questions raised – and left unanswered – by the narrator.
Despite these reservations, the collection was right up my street, and I heartily recommend it to fans of classic ghost stories.
https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/20...
A perfect example is the opener – Broken Voices. Set in the years prior to the First World War, its protagonists are two teenage students at a Cathedral school who unexpectedly get to spend the Christmas holidays at their school, lodging with a retired teacher. Inspired by ghostly tales about a long-dead composer haunting the cathedral, the boys set off on a nocturnal hunt for the lost score of an anthem, supposedly the composer’s masterpiece. Unsurprisingly, this turns out to be a bad idea.
The story’s ecclesiastical and scholarly setting is one which M.R. James or E.F. Benson would have found familiar, and reading it gave me the same sort of shivers up the spine which I get from these authors. It helped that I was reading Broken Voices on the first (cold)ish Saturday in my part of the world, and that on the same day I was due to take part in an early Christmas concert. I always savour these types of serendipities which complement the content of a story I’m reading and help me delve into its atmosphere. (I remember the same type of feeling when I was reading Charles Palliser’s The Unburied in December a couple of years back). Indeed, Broken Voices is my favourite in this collection, despite its anticlimactic ending.
The premise of The Leper House is markedly different but, despite its modern trappings (a broken-down car in a remote coastal area with no satnav or phone coverage), it also harks back to a classic trope in ghost stories: on a stormy night, the male narrator visits an old house and meets its intriguing (female) inhabitant but then cannot find the building when he returns to look for it in the sobering light of day. (A similar narrative device is used in Oliver Onions’s The Cigarette Case, a ghost story whose details are strangely identical to a “real-life” incident recounted about an old house in Valletta, Malta. I wonder whether this is a case of art imitating life, or the other way round. But I digress…) I will not give away any further plot details, except to state that Taylor takes this premise to unexpected, genre-bending conclusions.
M.R. James used to say that sex is distracting in a supernatural tale. However, at the heart of The Scratch, is a torrid infatuation between Clare, a middle-aged mother who is more-or-less-happily married to Gerald, and Gerald’s orphaned nephew Jack, who has just returned from Afghanistan suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. The story is narrated by Clare, and her guilty musings about this sudden passion for her disturbed lodger are as involving as the work’s supernatural elements. Elements which, one must say, are vague and, possibly, just the result of the protagonists’ feverish imagination – a scratch on Jack’s arm that refuses to heal, Jack’s unnatural revulsion towards his relatives’ pet cat, and his obsession with a phantom big cat which seems to be roaming the nearby forest (although it’s never actually seen except by Jack himself). This is possibly the most original and off-beat of the three stories but, for me, its effect was dampened by the vagueness of its ending – literally a page-load of questions raised – and left unanswered – by the narrator.
Despite these reservations, the collection was right up my street, and I heartily recommend it to fans of classic ghost stories.
https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/20...
February 20, 2018
This is a collection of three novelettes and it has the feel of something that was rushed out to fulfill publishing commitments or something, it’s not exactly essential reading. Stories are ok, the first Broken Voices is by far the strongest, reminding me of M R James at times. I wasn’t overly taken in by the other two. Not a terrible book, but not a must read either.
October 10, 2025
quite excellently eerie stories (the first and last cat-centred two being my favourites). well grounded and modern in their delicate doom…subtly gothic
April 6, 2018
Hmm... pas mal les trois histoires m'ont laissées un goût de "pas fini" ou plutôt, disons qu'elles auraient pu être mieux "exploitées", surtout la seconde et la troisième (la première m'a fait "ni chaud ni froid").
September 10, 2018
Three tales that linger “hauntingly” in my mind: A lonely schoolboy and the music of bells, a man who’s sister punishes him endlessly, and a troubled ex-soldier’s obsession with cats
I need to search out more Andrew Taylor- thankfully he is quite prolific- yay!
I need to search out more Andrew Taylor- thankfully he is quite prolific- yay!
August 15, 2021
This is an enjoyable collection of short stories by Andrew Taylor which is perfect for autumn/winter as they have that kind of feel to them. The dark tales are Broken Voices, The Leper House and The Scratch.
Broken Voices
Two schoolboys are left in the care of an elderly retired teacher over Christmas prior to the Great War. One night the teacher tells them an eerie tale about the nearby cathedral which leaves the boys curious. The boys are bored with little to do so they set out to discover if the tale is true but it ends badly.
The Leper House
On his way back from a funeral, a man’s car breaks down. Whilst looking for help he comes upon a remote cottage by the sea inhabited by a mysterious woman who begs him to leave. Why does he feel compelled to return? And why, when he does, is the woman or the cottage nowhere to be found?
The Scratch
Clare and Gerald, who live in a forest with their cat, have a visitor in the form of Gerald’s nephew Jack. He has come back from active service in Afghanistan and though not deemed as injured, he does have a scratch on his arm that won’t heal. As the wound festers and gets worse, Jack’s behaviour becomes more erratic so when he starts to talk about the big cat in the forest, Clare isn’t sure if he knows what’s real anymore. So why can’t she shake the feeling that she’s being watched?
Broken Voices
Two schoolboys are left in the care of an elderly retired teacher over Christmas prior to the Great War. One night the teacher tells them an eerie tale about the nearby cathedral which leaves the boys curious. The boys are bored with little to do so they set out to discover if the tale is true but it ends badly.
The Leper House
On his way back from a funeral, a man’s car breaks down. Whilst looking for help he comes upon a remote cottage by the sea inhabited by a mysterious woman who begs him to leave. Why does he feel compelled to return? And why, when he does, is the woman or the cottage nowhere to be found?
The Scratch
Clare and Gerald, who live in a forest with their cat, have a visitor in the form of Gerald’s nephew Jack. He has come back from active service in Afghanistan and though not deemed as injured, he does have a scratch on his arm that won’t heal. As the wound festers and gets worse, Jack’s behaviour becomes more erratic so when he starts to talk about the big cat in the forest, Clare isn’t sure if he knows what’s real anymore. So why can’t she shake the feeling that she’s being watched?
February 26, 2023
A collection of 3 short stories in the best old fashion gothic style. Taylor is a fantastic writer who can really set a creepy scene. I am looking forward to reading more of his work. And yes, there are some bad kitty cats in here!
January 10, 2024
This is a difficult one to review as it is three short stories as opposed to a novel and they were quite a mixed bag. The first, “Broken Voices”, was my favourite. The setting was what drew me in and it was nicely detailed and atmospheric. Although I felt it could’ve been longer, overall this one worked for me. The second story, “The Leper House”, was a very intriguing, one and very complex. I enjoyed it, but it left a lot missing out that I needed answers to so I was quite frustrated by the ending. This one could really have done with being a lot longer and possibly even a full length book. The last story, “The Scratch”, I thought it was going in a completely different direction at first, and in the end, I was left, quite disappointed. Although there was nothing necessarily wrong with the story, I just felt like it was quite weak compared with the other two, and again too much was squashed in and then left sort of unexplained. Didn’t warm to any of the characters in this one. To conclude, I felt I couldn’t really rank higher than three stars overall, because I think all of the stories needed to be longer and fuller to reach their true potential.
March 3, 2019
Fireside Gothic is a sort of omnibus of three novellas by Andrew Taylor, who is best known for his historical and crime fiction. The three stories in Fireside Gothic are Broken Voices, a ghost story about two desperately lonely boys who are forced to remain at their boarding school over the Christmas holidays, The Leper House, about a man who becomes embroiled in a sinister turn of events on the way home from his estranged sister's funeral when his car breaks down during a storm, and The Scratch, in which the nephew of a well-off middle-aged couple is invalided out of the army and becomes convinced that he is being stalked by a cat-like creature that lurks in the woods.
All three stories have in common a slow-build psychological horror that owes a debt to the likes of MR James and Susan Hill with a dash of Edgar Allan Poe. Although these are indeed ideal fireside reading (and would make excellent BBC Christmas ghost story adaptations) I wouldn't necessarily describe them all as gothic. However, the atmosphere conjured up by the title does give you a general idea of what you're about to read. These are engrossing, creepy stories ideal for a dark evening.
It's fair to say that there's more going on than just supernatural chills in all three stories. The narrator of Broken Voices is a 15-year-old boy at boarding school whose parents are overseas and who clearly craves company and a family life during the holidays, but the stiff upper lip mantra has been instilled in him so relentlessly that it would be unthinkable for him to express his loneliness. The plight of the narrator and his fellow pupil Faraday, left to board over Christmas with an eccentric elderly man, stifled by boredom and shifted from pillar to post for their meals, is almost painfully sad, and it's easy to see why orphaned Faraday is so utterly distraught at losing his position as the leader of the cathedral choir, the only thing that gives him a sense of status and belonging, when his voice breaks. This element of the story is easily as strong, if not stronger, than the ghost story element, which creeps into the plot rather late. It's a traditional ghost story that's elevated by strong and convincing characterisation and emotional depth.
The second story, The Leper House, was the one I found the most creepy and, from a psychological point of view, the most interesting. It has a rather unlikeable and possibly unreliable narrator, and manages to make a recurring motif of pigs seem strangely unnerving. While it's not a ghost story in the traditional sense, it also has elements of time-slip and other eerie aspects that I enjoyed, and the strange relationship between the narrator and his sister could almost have been a story in itself. There's a real sense of unease that hangs over this story.
I found The Scratch the least successful of the three stories by. Perhaps it's because I always find supposed big cat sightings in the British countryside hilarious, or perhaps I just can't find 'monster' stories frightening, but I just couldn't engage very well with the story of Jack, the traumatised soldier, and the apparent curse that had followed him home from Afghanistan. I didn't find the narrator or her husband particularly interesting, and there was little there that struck a chord with me. This is the last of the three stories in the book, which was a shame, as I'd have liked it to end on a higher note.
Overall, though, this is a highly enjoyable collection and reminded me very much (in good way) of the sorts of eerie stories I used to hunt down as a child.
All three stories have in common a slow-build psychological horror that owes a debt to the likes of MR James and Susan Hill with a dash of Edgar Allan Poe. Although these are indeed ideal fireside reading (and would make excellent BBC Christmas ghost story adaptations) I wouldn't necessarily describe them all as gothic. However, the atmosphere conjured up by the title does give you a general idea of what you're about to read. These are engrossing, creepy stories ideal for a dark evening.
It's fair to say that there's more going on than just supernatural chills in all three stories. The narrator of Broken Voices is a 15-year-old boy at boarding school whose parents are overseas and who clearly craves company and a family life during the holidays, but the stiff upper lip mantra has been instilled in him so relentlessly that it would be unthinkable for him to express his loneliness. The plight of the narrator and his fellow pupil Faraday, left to board over Christmas with an eccentric elderly man, stifled by boredom and shifted from pillar to post for their meals, is almost painfully sad, and it's easy to see why orphaned Faraday is so utterly distraught at losing his position as the leader of the cathedral choir, the only thing that gives him a sense of status and belonging, when his voice breaks. This element of the story is easily as strong, if not stronger, than the ghost story element, which creeps into the plot rather late. It's a traditional ghost story that's elevated by strong and convincing characterisation and emotional depth.
The second story, The Leper House, was the one I found the most creepy and, from a psychological point of view, the most interesting. It has a rather unlikeable and possibly unreliable narrator, and manages to make a recurring motif of pigs seem strangely unnerving. While it's not a ghost story in the traditional sense, it also has elements of time-slip and other eerie aspects that I enjoyed, and the strange relationship between the narrator and his sister could almost have been a story in itself. There's a real sense of unease that hangs over this story.
I found The Scratch the least successful of the three stories by. Perhaps it's because I always find supposed big cat sightings in the British countryside hilarious, or perhaps I just can't find 'monster' stories frightening, but I just couldn't engage very well with the story of Jack, the traumatised soldier, and the apparent curse that had followed him home from Afghanistan. I didn't find the narrator or her husband particularly interesting, and there was little there that struck a chord with me. This is the last of the three stories in the book, which was a shame, as I'd have liked it to end on a higher note.
Overall, though, this is a highly enjoyable collection and reminded me very much (in good way) of the sorts of eerie stories I used to hunt down as a child.
December 23, 2023
In essence, two almost excellent stories that could have done with a bit more ambiguity and - ironically - a bit more focus. And then one absolute clunker of a thing that feels like it was written in a panic to a deadline, a cobbled together bunch of cliches with not so much ambiguity as a deliberate obfuscation to disguise the fact the writer didn’t really have enough to pull it all together. Still, the two almost excellent stories are worth hunting down even if the Scratch most certainly isn’t
September 24, 2022
We're in Susan Hill territory here, with a mainstream historical/crime novelist having a go at something weirder. The results are mixed and generally enjoyable, though I do have a few reservations.
The first story, 'Broken Voices', is a pastiche of the 'classic' ghost story, set in the early twentieth century and featuring a haunted cathedral, a troubled chorister, and a 'festive season' which epitomises Mud's 'Lonely this Christmas'. It builds atmosphere well, and would probably adapt very nicely to TV. The finale, with two boys trapped in the old bell-tower, is suitably suspenseful.
In 'The Leper House', we're in more strange territory, but the story promises more than it delivers. I couldn't help wondering what the great Robert Aickman would have done with this material, as Taylor seems to present it in a markedly 'Aickmanian' way. There's a disregard for narrative economy (the opening section is very meandering) and female characters who recall those from his tale, 'The Inner Room'. Unlike Aickman however, the 'strange' is essentially a simple time-slip, bogged down with some heavy duty explanatory material in the final pages. This spoiled the story as far as I was concerned; without it, Taylor might have been writing a sequel to Oliver Onions' 'The Cigarette Case'.
The final story, 'The Scratch', is a curious blend of Aickman, Algernon Blackwood, and something you'd see on ITV at 9pm on a Wednesday. A troubled Afghanistan veteran goes to stay with his uncle and aunt in the Forest of Dean, and is haunted by their pet cat and darker feline presences, perhaps including an ABC (Alien Big Cat). It's all building up very nicely, and then...open endings are one thing, but the story seems simply to run out of steam. Either that or Taylor couldn't work out a way to conclude it and opted for the Miles Davis technique (when you've finished your solo, just take the horn out of your mouth). I didn't want a neat resolution, but this was rather like turning to the reader and saying 'over to you' (shades of Reggie Oliver). I also found it oddly lacking in atmosphere - while the rain-lashed East Anglia of 'The Leper House' is very evocative (I know where that pig farm is outside Southwold!), the Forest of Dean (where Taylor lives) is no more than a backdrop. If only the Blackwood influence extended to 'The Man Whom the Trees Loved'.
In all then, a nice collection for a winter's night, but I wish Taylor had made up his mind whether to be a ghost story writer (as in 'Broken Voices') or to have the full courage of his weirder convictions. Had he trusted himself where the latter was concerned, 'The Scratch' could have been genuinely impressive rather than just quite good.
The first story, 'Broken Voices', is a pastiche of the 'classic' ghost story, set in the early twentieth century and featuring a haunted cathedral, a troubled chorister, and a 'festive season' which epitomises Mud's 'Lonely this Christmas'. It builds atmosphere well, and would probably adapt very nicely to TV. The finale, with two boys trapped in the old bell-tower, is suitably suspenseful.
In 'The Leper House', we're in more strange territory, but the story promises more than it delivers. I couldn't help wondering what the great Robert Aickman would have done with this material, as Taylor seems to present it in a markedly 'Aickmanian' way. There's a disregard for narrative economy (the opening section is very meandering) and female characters who recall those from his tale, 'The Inner Room'. Unlike Aickman however, the 'strange' is essentially a simple time-slip, bogged down with some heavy duty explanatory material in the final pages. This spoiled the story as far as I was concerned; without it, Taylor might have been writing a sequel to Oliver Onions' 'The Cigarette Case'.
The final story, 'The Scratch', is a curious blend of Aickman, Algernon Blackwood, and something you'd see on ITV at 9pm on a Wednesday. A troubled Afghanistan veteran goes to stay with his uncle and aunt in the Forest of Dean, and is haunted by their pet cat and darker feline presences, perhaps including an ABC (Alien Big Cat). It's all building up very nicely, and then...open endings are one thing, but the story seems simply to run out of steam. Either that or Taylor couldn't work out a way to conclude it and opted for the Miles Davis technique (when you've finished your solo, just take the horn out of your mouth). I didn't want a neat resolution, but this was rather like turning to the reader and saying 'over to you' (shades of Reggie Oliver). I also found it oddly lacking in atmosphere - while the rain-lashed East Anglia of 'The Leper House' is very evocative (I know where that pig farm is outside Southwold!), the Forest of Dean (where Taylor lives) is no more than a backdrop. If only the Blackwood influence extended to 'The Man Whom the Trees Loved'.
In all then, a nice collection for a winter's night, but I wish Taylor had made up his mind whether to be a ghost story writer (as in 'Broken Voices') or to have the full courage of his weirder convictions. Had he trusted himself where the latter was concerned, 'The Scratch' could have been genuinely impressive rather than just quite good.
January 20, 2018
Fireside Gothic contains three dark-edged stories of (as the cover strapline puts it) fear, retribution and death. The first, Broken Voices, is the most atmospheric, set in the precincts of Ely Cathedral over a cold, murky Christmas period just before the First World War. I can't resist stories set in and around the closed world of a great cathedral and this one is full of detail and just enough creepiness to be an ideal story to read in a cosy room on a cold winter's night. The Leper House, the second story in the book, is the most gripping and compulsively readable of the three with a great sense of place and the tricks that time can play on an otherwise ordered life. The final story, The Scratch is to my mind the weakest of the three. Set in the Forest of Dean, it's set in motion by the arrival in a happily married couple's life of a young relative recovering from the physical and mental scars of a traumatic tour of duty in Afghanistan. But there's one scar that won't heal, and there's something not quite right lurking in the forest. This story tries to do too much and while it's perfectly readable, it doesn't have the me intensity and atmosphere of the other two.
November 15, 2016
Even though I indicated that the book has a 3-star rating, I would actually give it a 3.5. I enjoyed the three stories and I do think it is definitely worth reading; there is just nothing unique or spine-tingling about the stories though they are well-written.
January 6, 2017
3 fantastic ghost stories- hard to put down! Wonderful atmosphere created especially in the first story and linked by common themes including cats!
A fantastic read especially by the fireside on a dark winters night.
A fantastic read especially by the fireside on a dark winters night.
November 27, 2016
A little too much overlap between the stories and some cop-out endings, but still a spooky and well-written trilogy of stories.
February 6, 2017
Three well written horror shorts evocative of the classics. Probably best read sat in front of a roaring log fire in a dimly lit room.
February 4, 2017
Having read and enjoyed some of Andrew Taylor’s historical crime novels, I was immediately intrigued when I heard about Fireside Gothic, a hardback collection of three novellas which had originally been published separately in ebook form as ‘Kindle Singles’. The stories are all quite different but, as Taylor says in his author’s note, they do share some common themes.
Broken Voices, the first of the three, has the feel of a classic Christmas ghost story. Set in an English cathedral city just before the First World War, it follows the adventures of two schoolboys whose circumstances mean they have to stay at school in the care of a retired teacher over the Christmas holidays. After listening to the teacher’s tales of mysterious happenings in the nearby cathedral, one of the boys begins to hear ghostly music and persuades his friend to sneak into the cathedral with him late one night to investigate.
Broken Voices gets the collection off to a good start. Although I would describe it as an eerie story rather than a scary one, with its haunting atmosphere, winter setting and vivid descriptions of the deserted cathedral, this is the most obviously ‘gothic’ of the stories in the book.
The second story, The Leper House, is my favourite. Set in the modern day this time, our narrator is driving home from his sister’s funeral when his car breaks down on a lonely country road near the Suffolk coast. Setting off through the rain and wind in search of help, he manages to find shelter for the night and during his stay he has a brief but unforgettable encounter with a woman who lives in a neighbouring cottage. In the morning, he discovers that both the woman and the cottage have disappeared – and becomes obsessed with finding an explanation for his strange experience.
I can’t say too much, but the story then goes in a direction which was completely unexpected and which I loved. It raises a lot of fascinating questions and some of them are still unanswered at the end. There are some ideas here which I would have liked to have seen developed further; this story has all the ingredients of a full-length novel and I was sorry it had to come to an end so soon!
The collection finishes with The Scratch, another contemporary story. Unlike the first two, this one is narrated by a woman. Her name is Clare and she lives in the Forest of Dean with her husband, Gerald, and their pet cat. At the beginning of the story, their orphaned nephew, Jack, comes to stay with them on his return from fighting in Afghanistan. Jack’s time in the army has left him with a fear of cats, a dislike of enclosed spaces and a scratch on his arm which won’t seem to heal.
This is an interesting story, but the focus is mainly on the complicated relationships between Clare, Gerald and Jack, so the supernatural elements are much more subtle than in the other novellas. This is my least favourite of the three, although there are some clever little twists at the end which took me by surprise!
Fireside Gothic is an entertaining and unusual collection. The title and cover had led me to expect something slightly different – something spookier and, well, more gothic – but I did still enjoy these three novellas, particularly the middle one. While it’s still winter, this would be an ideal time to get yourself a copy of this book and spend a cold, dark evening reading it by the fire.
Broken Voices, the first of the three, has the feel of a classic Christmas ghost story. Set in an English cathedral city just before the First World War, it follows the adventures of two schoolboys whose circumstances mean they have to stay at school in the care of a retired teacher over the Christmas holidays. After listening to the teacher’s tales of mysterious happenings in the nearby cathedral, one of the boys begins to hear ghostly music and persuades his friend to sneak into the cathedral with him late one night to investigate.
Broken Voices gets the collection off to a good start. Although I would describe it as an eerie story rather than a scary one, with its haunting atmosphere, winter setting and vivid descriptions of the deserted cathedral, this is the most obviously ‘gothic’ of the stories in the book.
The second story, The Leper House, is my favourite. Set in the modern day this time, our narrator is driving home from his sister’s funeral when his car breaks down on a lonely country road near the Suffolk coast. Setting off through the rain and wind in search of help, he manages to find shelter for the night and during his stay he has a brief but unforgettable encounter with a woman who lives in a neighbouring cottage. In the morning, he discovers that both the woman and the cottage have disappeared – and becomes obsessed with finding an explanation for his strange experience.
I can’t say too much, but the story then goes in a direction which was completely unexpected and which I loved. It raises a lot of fascinating questions and some of them are still unanswered at the end. There are some ideas here which I would have liked to have seen developed further; this story has all the ingredients of a full-length novel and I was sorry it had to come to an end so soon!
The collection finishes with The Scratch, another contemporary story. Unlike the first two, this one is narrated by a woman. Her name is Clare and she lives in the Forest of Dean with her husband, Gerald, and their pet cat. At the beginning of the story, their orphaned nephew, Jack, comes to stay with them on his return from fighting in Afghanistan. Jack’s time in the army has left him with a fear of cats, a dislike of enclosed spaces and a scratch on his arm which won’t seem to heal.
This is an interesting story, but the focus is mainly on the complicated relationships between Clare, Gerald and Jack, so the supernatural elements are much more subtle than in the other novellas. This is my least favourite of the three, although there are some clever little twists at the end which took me by surprise!
Fireside Gothic is an entertaining and unusual collection. The title and cover had led me to expect something slightly different – something spookier and, well, more gothic – but I did still enjoy these three novellas, particularly the middle one. While it’s still winter, this would be an ideal time to get yourself a copy of this book and spend a cold, dark evening reading it by the fire.
September 30, 2019
Content
A collection of three gothic stories
BROKEN VOICES
“The emptiness of the place enfolded us like a shroud. The air was cold and smelled faintly of earth, incense and candles.” (Quotation page 44)
The narrator remembers one special Christmas, more than forty years ago. He is fifteen years old and has to stay in school over the holidays, together with a boy named Faraday, who is two years younger. Mr. Ratcliffe, an old, long retired teacher, takes care of them and during the evenings, he entertains them with ghost stories about the nearby Cathedral. Some of the stories have real backgrounds, such as the fate of Mr. Goldsworthy, two hundred years ago, and the beautiful anthem he wrote, since lost. Therefore, the boys plan to climb the tower of the Cathedral and search for the lost sheet of notes.
THE LEPER HOUSE
“There’s always a next time.” (Quotation page 159)
After the funeral of his sister, the narrator is on his way to visit a client in Ipswich and afterwards he would drive home to London, where he lives. But there are roadworks, the day changes into a dark, rainy, stormy evening when the traffic stops again. Therefore, he follows some local drivers, taking a narrow road, when one of the tires of his car is punctured. He leaves the car, starts to walk and suddenly he sees a light and arrives at an old cottage by the sea.
THE SCRATCH
“Two things happened that afternoon which were both important, though I didn’t realize their significance until later.” (Quotation page 176)
Clare and Gerald live in a rural area, near the Forest of Dean. Jack, Gerald`s young nephew, just back from the army in Afghanistan, is going to stay with them for some time. He dislikes their cat Cannop, because he generally does not like cats. He is sure that there must be wild cats in the Forest, because sometimes he notices a big, dark shadow on his daily walk through the forest. One day Clare sees a big scratch on his arm.
Conclusion
Three stories, modern versions of the well-known traditional gothic novels, a perfect read for rainy, dark afternoons and evenings. The gripping, suspenseful plot starts from normal daily situations, which makes everything that happens plausible. There are always more solutions and explanations, left open for us readers to think about and find our own ideas. Just relax, light some candles and enjoy the high literary quality of stories and the eerie fascination.
A collection of three gothic stories
BROKEN VOICES
“The emptiness of the place enfolded us like a shroud. The air was cold and smelled faintly of earth, incense and candles.” (Quotation page 44)
The narrator remembers one special Christmas, more than forty years ago. He is fifteen years old and has to stay in school over the holidays, together with a boy named Faraday, who is two years younger. Mr. Ratcliffe, an old, long retired teacher, takes care of them and during the evenings, he entertains them with ghost stories about the nearby Cathedral. Some of the stories have real backgrounds, such as the fate of Mr. Goldsworthy, two hundred years ago, and the beautiful anthem he wrote, since lost. Therefore, the boys plan to climb the tower of the Cathedral and search for the lost sheet of notes.
THE LEPER HOUSE
“There’s always a next time.” (Quotation page 159)
After the funeral of his sister, the narrator is on his way to visit a client in Ipswich and afterwards he would drive home to London, where he lives. But there are roadworks, the day changes into a dark, rainy, stormy evening when the traffic stops again. Therefore, he follows some local drivers, taking a narrow road, when one of the tires of his car is punctured. He leaves the car, starts to walk and suddenly he sees a light and arrives at an old cottage by the sea.
THE SCRATCH
“Two things happened that afternoon which were both important, though I didn’t realize their significance until later.” (Quotation page 176)
Clare and Gerald live in a rural area, near the Forest of Dean. Jack, Gerald`s young nephew, just back from the army in Afghanistan, is going to stay with them for some time. He dislikes their cat Cannop, because he generally does not like cats. He is sure that there must be wild cats in the Forest, because sometimes he notices a big, dark shadow on his daily walk through the forest. One day Clare sees a big scratch on his arm.
Conclusion
Three stories, modern versions of the well-known traditional gothic novels, a perfect read for rainy, dark afternoons and evenings. The gripping, suspenseful plot starts from normal daily situations, which makes everything that happens plausible. There are always more solutions and explanations, left open for us readers to think about and find our own ideas. Just relax, light some candles and enjoy the high literary quality of stories and the eerie fascination.
October 20, 2025
Personally I love this brand of slow-burn gothic horror with a focus on characterisation and emotional depth. It's written in the spirit of traditional gothic horror, with Taylor building a lingering sense of tension and dread through isolated settings, characters slowly losing their grip on reality, and descriptions that leave just enough room for readers to look closer for clues and subtle signals.
This collection of three novellas (a little too long to qualify as short stories, in my opinion) also offers a good variety. The first tale, Broken Voices, is (to me) the most classically gothic horror of the three. Set in the early twentieth century, it follows the story of two schoolboys, left in the care of an elderly teacher over the Christmas holidays. They have little to do but listen to his eerie fireside tales about a nearby ancient cathedral. The narrative style, time period, setting, and characters all lend themselves wonderfully to the classic tropes of gothic horror.
The second novella, The Scratch, is more contemporary and more focused on character dynamics, relationships, secrets, and what happens when hidden wounds fester in the dark. I really enjoyed the strong characterisation in this tale and the way the interactions between characters built the suspense and uncertainty.
The third novella, The Leper House, had a good premise and all the beginnings of a good mystery/suspense story (on a dark and stormy night, a man's car breaks down; he decides to seek assistance at a nearby residence) but personally I felt the story lost its way a little bit, and at the end it had too much exposition, as though Taylor - worried about the plot becoming too convoluted - decided to explain it plainly to the reader. While I had found the plot getting a little too windy and going off-track/off-genre from its origins, stumbling over a pile of exposition made the story lose any remaining momentum. Nevertheless, I appreciated the creative idea behind it, and the settings and characters were highly original and interesting. I think this one perhaps should have been developed more; it has enough bones to become a novel on its own.
This collection of three novellas (a little too long to qualify as short stories, in my opinion) also offers a good variety. The first tale, Broken Voices, is (to me) the most classically gothic horror of the three. Set in the early twentieth century, it follows the story of two schoolboys, left in the care of an elderly teacher over the Christmas holidays. They have little to do but listen to his eerie fireside tales about a nearby ancient cathedral. The narrative style, time period, setting, and characters all lend themselves wonderfully to the classic tropes of gothic horror.
The second novella, The Scratch, is more contemporary and more focused on character dynamics, relationships, secrets, and what happens when hidden wounds fester in the dark. I really enjoyed the strong characterisation in this tale and the way the interactions between characters built the suspense and uncertainty.
The third novella, The Leper House, had a good premise and all the beginnings of a good mystery/suspense story (on a dark and stormy night, a man's car breaks down; he decides to seek assistance at a nearby residence) but personally I felt the story lost its way a little bit, and at the end it had too much exposition, as though Taylor - worried about the plot becoming too convoluted - decided to explain it plainly to the reader. While I had found the plot getting a little too windy and going off-track/off-genre from its origins, stumbling over a pile of exposition made the story lose any remaining momentum. Nevertheless, I appreciated the creative idea behind it, and the settings and characters were highly original and interesting. I think this one perhaps should have been developed more; it has enough bones to become a novel on its own.
December 21, 2017
Fireside Gothic by Andrew Taylor consist of three stories which have a similar thread through them. The first is called Broken Voices which is set before the Great War at Christmas time. Two school boys have been forced into companionship in the care of an elderly school teacher. With nothing to do but to listen to tales about the creepy cathedral the boys concoct a plan to see if there’s truth to these stories which results in a fatal death. The second story is called The Leper House which is about a man who’s car breaks down after he’s been to his sister’s funeral and the only source of light comes from an old cottage by the sea. The woman he meets there urges him to leave but he can’t help feeling she needs his help. The next day he goes back to find the woman isn’t there and neither is the cottage. The last story is called The Scratch. This is about a couple Gerald and Claire that live near a forest with their cat. One day Geralds’s nephew comes to live with them who has come back from Afghanistan with nothing but a scratch on his arm. The cat hates Jack, Claire and Jack like each other too much and the scratch begins to fester.
I found these stories to be an ideal creepy Christmas read. What is consistent in these stories is death, fear and retribution. These themes with the characters and the eerie circumstances surrounding them is what makes these fun to read. They are ideal for the readers of Susan Hill 👍🏽
I found these stories to be an ideal creepy Christmas read. What is consistent in these stories is death, fear and retribution. These themes with the characters and the eerie circumstances surrounding them is what makes these fun to read. They are ideal for the readers of Susan Hill 👍🏽
December 31, 2017
I'd not read any Andrew Taylor until after I met him at a book festival. I got to talk to Andrew and had a great conversation with him. Subsequently, I had to read something by him and started with The Silent Boy and thoroughly enjoyed it. So, to Fireside Gothic. It looked like a great Christmas book and I was not disappointed. Andrew Taylor writes beautifully in a classic style that is a pleasure to read. He creates a wonderful sense of atmosphere in these three stories from the cathedral school, pre 1914, which is very M R James-ian, to, in more modern times, getting lost on the Norfolk coast in a storm (again a strong James influence) and culminating in a modern story written from a first person female perspective. The three stories lack the full James supernatural sense, but this is the 21st not 19th century. However, they are compelling, delving into the dilemmas of the protagonists with a strong sense of character. Andrew Taylor, follows the traditions of great writing - well formed sentences and chapters that draw the reader onwards into unfurling tales of challenge and tragedy. A pleasure to sit by the fireside and read into the evening.
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January 14, 2024Read 2 of 3 unconnected stories.
Two boys at a cathedral boarding school creep into the cathedral one night after Christmas and have a very bad night that may or may not involve a ghost. The cathedral isn't named but it's clearly Ely, a place I've been to many times. The sense of place and character is very strong and the storytelling craft is deft but bleak.
Second story. A man breaks down on a Suffolk country road and has a very weird experience. Again a strong sense of time and place and realistic characters, but emotionally weird and unsettling.
What genre are these? How would you define Gothic? They're not primarily Horror, though there are some tense parts, but the overall shape of the stories is too slow and the supernatural too ambiguous. Ghost stories? Well, the first one might be, though the darkness is more inside the characters than in an external ghost. Tales of the uncanny? Too much of the focus is internal, surely.
Not really my thing, but the storytelling is well done.
Two boys at a cathedral boarding school creep into the cathedral one night after Christmas and have a very bad night that may or may not involve a ghost. The cathedral isn't named but it's clearly Ely, a place I've been to many times. The sense of place and character is very strong and the storytelling craft is deft but bleak.
Second story. A man breaks down on a Suffolk country road and has a very weird experience. Again a strong sense of time and place and realistic characters, but emotionally weird and unsettling.
What genre are these? How would you define Gothic? They're not primarily Horror, though there are some tense parts, but the overall shape of the stories is too slow and the supernatural too ambiguous. Ghost stories? Well, the first one might be, though the darkness is more inside the characters than in an external ghost. Tales of the uncanny? Too much of the focus is internal, surely.
Not really my thing, but the storytelling is well done.
December 27, 2017
‘The sound had a hypnotic effect - I was growing chilly in front of the open window, but I didn’t move. I stayed there until I heard another sound, so distant and so faint that the other noises of the night almost drowned in it: the irregular tolling of a bell.’
The Gothic continues to fascinate readers and the reasons are evident in this collection of three modern Gothic tales by Andrew Taylor.
Each novella is expertly crafted, with a subversive sense of underlying anxiety and menace established from the outset. In accordance with classic Gothic tropes Taylor uses ambivalence and ambiguity to unsettle the reader so that we are never quite sure what has happened, only that it was chilling.
The Gothic continues to fascinate readers and the reasons are evident in this collection of three modern Gothic tales by Andrew Taylor.
Each novella is expertly crafted, with a subversive sense of underlying anxiety and menace established from the outset. In accordance with classic Gothic tropes Taylor uses ambivalence and ambiguity to unsettle the reader so that we are never quite sure what has happened, only that it was chilling.
November 25, 2019
I love Gothic ghost/horror stories. This book was really good, my favourite story from the trilogy was Broken Voices set at the Christmas before the Great War. Two schoolboys and an eerie ghost story about the nearby Cathedral. The story Broken Voices put me very much in mind of M.R.James, a writer whose ghost stories are among the best. Eerie cathedrals and libraries being very much a part of M.R.James stories. In this book there are also two contemporary stories which were also very good and would perhaps appeal to readers who prefer a modern setting. I would thoroughly recommend this book if you like creepy Gothic stories and I do hope the author explores this genre further. A seat by the fire on a Winter's day with a cup of hot chocolate would be recommended for reading this book.
October 12, 2018
Great book from Andrew Taylor - haven't read any of his for ages and had forgotten how good he is. Three shortish novellas, all different, but a number of animal themes in them - two have cats in them, two have pigs! All intriguing and ghostly, hence the Gothic in the title, but not hugely scary. Cleverly done, great description, and plenty to keep the interest going. Must read a few more of his or re-read perhaps.
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