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English Magic
English Magic moves through fields and parklands, urban estates and empty beaches, upmarket art galleries, scuffed corner shops. It lands at Heathrow Airport, takes a taxi to the suburbs, finds emptiness and oppression. It strikes out for the countryside on May Day to where there are maypoles and fire blazing haybales, and where blessings sound like threats. It takes a train to the sea. The rain powers down. The beach is damp. Balloons pop. It in a flat, drags itself out of half sleep... and there something tapping behind the gas fire. Scraping and flurrying. What is it? In her debut collection of short stories, the prize winning author Uschi Gatward takes us on a tour of an England simultaneously domestic and wild, familiar and strange, real and imagined. Coupling the past and the present, merging the surreal and the mundane, English Magic is a collection full of humour and warmth, subversion and intoxication a and announcing the arrival of a shining new talent.
170 pages, Paperback
First published August 26, 2021
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April 6, 2022
Shortlisted for the James Tait Black Prize for Fiction.
This book is published by the Norfolk based multi-award winning small press Galley Beggar, run by Elly Miller and Sam Jordison and whose past books include the superb “Ducks, Newburyport”, “We That Are Young”, “Lucia” and “A Girl is a Half Formed Thing” among many others.
Now all of these books are novels because although for the last six years Galley Beggar have run a prestigious and impressive short story prize and published a large number of individual stories as Galley Beggar single e-books: this is, perhaps surprisingly, the first short story collection they have published for a long time. Less surprisingly given their knowledge of the short story form it is an impressive one.
The author is Uschi Gatward whose short stories have been published in various magazines and multi-author compilations (and in a Galley Beggar single) (and who tragically died shortly after publication)
Now I will admit up front that I am not a great connoisseur of the short story form compared to my love (and I think knowledge) of the literary novel – but I found this overall an enjoyable collection with (to my interpretation) some clear themes to draw it together – many of which are interleaved together in individual stories.
The first comes I think most strongly in two stories (and “Oh! Whistle And” and “My Brother is Back”) and is contemporary politics – and particularly the actions of the Anglo-American governments which go against long-established traditions of justice but which they justify by the extra-ordinary demands for counter-terrorism actions.
“Oh! Whistle And” for me is the undoubted highlight of the entire collection - it was inspired both in substance and style by the Edward Snowdon revelations with the omniscient narrator untangling a series of potentially suspicious connections between the alphabetically anonymised characters, some of who are only too aware of the surveillance they may be under (to the point of paranoia) and others entirely unaware of the (equally paranoid) interpretation placed on their innocent actions.
“My Brother is Back” is I believe a fictionalised first person story inspired by the return to England of Syed Talha Ahsan to his home country of the UK where he had previously been held without trial or charge for an astonishing 6 years before extradition to the US)
The second, related, is a distrust of surveillance and the big brother state – captured in the dystopian opening novel “The Clinic” as a family, with an unnaturally precocious child, plot an escape to the country before the state captures up with them. This theme is of course also picked up in “Oh! Whistle And”.
The third is ancient Celtic tradition. This is particularly pronounced in “Beltane” and “Samhain” - named respectively after two key Gaelic festivals – the beginning of Summer and beginning of Winter respectively, but which in the modern day stories take place at a May Day Festival (whose partially sinister overtones threaten at times to spill into Wicker-Man territory) and some Halloween preparations.
The fourth related to this relates to a fusing of time of stories that link the past and present. Of course this is captured in the two Celtic stories but also in “On Margate Sands” (two friends revisit a now rather trendy Margate some twenty or so years after the visited it as youngsters – both trips linked by one of them searching for a memory from a childhood visit) and the excellent “Lammas” which welds together (in a progressively more fragmentary style) left wing activism over 130 years going back to the 1892 Lammas Day protests against railway fences on the historical community lands on Leyton Marsh.
[In passing I would note that the Lammas Day (1 August) was a Christianisation of another of the four main Gaelic Festivals – Lughnasagh (I was unable to find a reference to “Imbolc” and checked with Galley Beggar who could also not find one)).
It is also the basis of "Lurve" - a three part story using the Vernissage, Midissage, Finissage terms from an art exhibition to illustrate a story of the past and present and gradual art world gentrification of Whitechapel (taking in the Cable Street battle, George Galloway, Emin and Hurst, the Ripper museum, the old Truman Brewery).
Other stories I think are more standalone: I particularly enjoyed “The Bird” (a tale of a couple returning from honeymoon to their Brighton flat to find a bird stuck in their chimney), “The Creche” (a story of a collective parent-and-child trip to Leigh-on-Sea) both of which are shot through with a mix of the everyday and the slightly surreal, and "Backgammon" where the reaction to a losing game uncovers to a narrator the truth about her friend's relationship.
"What's for you, Won't Go By You" was the only real miss for me - maybe as it seemed to be around substance abuse.
Recommended.
This book is published by the Norfolk based multi-award winning small press Galley Beggar, run by Elly Miller and Sam Jordison and whose past books include the superb “Ducks, Newburyport”, “We That Are Young”, “Lucia” and “A Girl is a Half Formed Thing” among many others.
Now all of these books are novels because although for the last six years Galley Beggar have run a prestigious and impressive short story prize and published a large number of individual stories as Galley Beggar single e-books: this is, perhaps surprisingly, the first short story collection they have published for a long time. Less surprisingly given their knowledge of the short story form it is an impressive one.
The author is Uschi Gatward whose short stories have been published in various magazines and multi-author compilations (and in a Galley Beggar single) (and who tragically died shortly after publication)
Now I will admit up front that I am not a great connoisseur of the short story form compared to my love (and I think knowledge) of the literary novel – but I found this overall an enjoyable collection with (to my interpretation) some clear themes to draw it together – many of which are interleaved together in individual stories.
The first comes I think most strongly in two stories (and “Oh! Whistle And” and “My Brother is Back”) and is contemporary politics – and particularly the actions of the Anglo-American governments which go against long-established traditions of justice but which they justify by the extra-ordinary demands for counter-terrorism actions.
“Oh! Whistle And” for me is the undoubted highlight of the entire collection - it was inspired both in substance and style by the Edward Snowdon revelations with the omniscient narrator untangling a series of potentially suspicious connections between the alphabetically anonymised characters, some of who are only too aware of the surveillance they may be under (to the point of paranoia) and others entirely unaware of the (equally paranoid) interpretation placed on their innocent actions.
“My Brother is Back” is I believe a fictionalised first person story inspired by the return to England of Syed Talha Ahsan to his home country of the UK where he had previously been held without trial or charge for an astonishing 6 years before extradition to the US)
The second, related, is a distrust of surveillance and the big brother state – captured in the dystopian opening novel “The Clinic” as a family, with an unnaturally precocious child, plot an escape to the country before the state captures up with them. This theme is of course also picked up in “Oh! Whistle And”.
The third is ancient Celtic tradition. This is particularly pronounced in “Beltane” and “Samhain” - named respectively after two key Gaelic festivals – the beginning of Summer and beginning of Winter respectively, but which in the modern day stories take place at a May Day Festival (whose partially sinister overtones threaten at times to spill into Wicker-Man territory) and some Halloween preparations.
The fourth related to this relates to a fusing of time of stories that link the past and present. Of course this is captured in the two Celtic stories but also in “On Margate Sands” (two friends revisit a now rather trendy Margate some twenty or so years after the visited it as youngsters – both trips linked by one of them searching for a memory from a childhood visit) and the excellent “Lammas” which welds together (in a progressively more fragmentary style) left wing activism over 130 years going back to the 1892 Lammas Day protests against railway fences on the historical community lands on Leyton Marsh.
[In passing I would note that the Lammas Day (1 August) was a Christianisation of another of the four main Gaelic Festivals – Lughnasagh (I was unable to find a reference to “Imbolc” and checked with Galley Beggar who could also not find one)).
It is also the basis of "Lurve" - a three part story using the Vernissage, Midissage, Finissage terms from an art exhibition to illustrate a story of the past and present and gradual art world gentrification of Whitechapel (taking in the Cable Street battle, George Galloway, Emin and Hurst, the Ripper museum, the old Truman Brewery).
Other stories I think are more standalone: I particularly enjoyed “The Bird” (a tale of a couple returning from honeymoon to their Brighton flat to find a bird stuck in their chimney), “The Creche” (a story of a collective parent-and-child trip to Leigh-on-Sea) both of which are shot through with a mix of the everyday and the slightly surreal, and "Backgammon" where the reaction to a losing game uncovers to a narrator the truth about her friend's relationship.
"What's for you, Won't Go By You" was the only real miss for me - maybe as it seemed to be around substance abuse.
Recommended.
January 17, 2024
“Now that the lamp is on, the darkness seems to fall faster around it, this pool of yellow light the only lit space in the world.”
This is a debut collection of short stories and it’s not about magic or fantasy, it’s about the England of the present day. Sadly it will be Gatward’s last collection as she was diagnosed with cancer at the time of publication and died soon afterwards. The stories cover politics, subversion, ritual, the natural world, those on the edges of society, collective action and much more. It was published by the independent Galley Beggar Press.
There are some striking stories. “My Brother is Back” is based on the story of Talha Ahsan who was arrested in 2006 and extradited to the US where he remained for about eight years. “The Clinic” starts with a parents and a baby at a clinic. Little clues build up and gradually the reader realises that this is dystopian and we are dealing with a totalitarian state and that something catastrophic has happened. Vaguely reminiscent of The Road.
“The Creche” depicts a trip by a Mother and Toddler group to a seaside resort. Inevitably the English weather is cold and wet and there is a certain humour to this. However there is a sense of threat and menace in the background.
“Beltane” follows a couple discovering a rural May celebration in a village. There are the usual processions, bonfires, food, drink and maypoles! However the reader id on edge because there is again an underlying sense of unease and the thought in the back of the mind, “Is this going to turn into The Wicker Man”.
In “Lammas” and old man recollects his past in a rather disjointed and muddled way. It is a history of political protest and radicalism in the East End of London (this time shades of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist, one of the greatest English novels).
Again “Oh Whistle And” recollects other works. This time it is one of M R James’s best ghost stories “Oh Whistle and I’ll come to you my lad” (rather than the poem/song by Burns). The starting point for the story is Edward Snowden the US whistleblower. The characters are given letters rather than names and we are I the middle of the security and surveillance society.
“The Bird” (shades of Hitchcock) involves a honeymooning couple returning to their Brighton flat and discovering there is a bird trapped behind their fire. Their reactions sheds light on their relationship.
This is an excellent collection and they all have impact and reflection on England today.
This is a debut collection of short stories and it’s not about magic or fantasy, it’s about the England of the present day. Sadly it will be Gatward’s last collection as she was diagnosed with cancer at the time of publication and died soon afterwards. The stories cover politics, subversion, ritual, the natural world, those on the edges of society, collective action and much more. It was published by the independent Galley Beggar Press.
There are some striking stories. “My Brother is Back” is based on the story of Talha Ahsan who was arrested in 2006 and extradited to the US where he remained for about eight years. “The Clinic” starts with a parents and a baby at a clinic. Little clues build up and gradually the reader realises that this is dystopian and we are dealing with a totalitarian state and that something catastrophic has happened. Vaguely reminiscent of The Road.
“The Creche” depicts a trip by a Mother and Toddler group to a seaside resort. Inevitably the English weather is cold and wet and there is a certain humour to this. However there is a sense of threat and menace in the background.
“Beltane” follows a couple discovering a rural May celebration in a village. There are the usual processions, bonfires, food, drink and maypoles! However the reader id on edge because there is again an underlying sense of unease and the thought in the back of the mind, “Is this going to turn into The Wicker Man”.
In “Lammas” and old man recollects his past in a rather disjointed and muddled way. It is a history of political protest and radicalism in the East End of London (this time shades of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist, one of the greatest English novels).
Again “Oh Whistle And” recollects other works. This time it is one of M R James’s best ghost stories “Oh Whistle and I’ll come to you my lad” (rather than the poem/song by Burns). The starting point for the story is Edward Snowden the US whistleblower. The characters are given letters rather than names and we are I the middle of the security and surveillance society.
“The Bird” (shades of Hitchcock) involves a honeymooning couple returning to their Brighton flat and discovering there is a bird trapped behind their fire. Their reactions sheds light on their relationship.
This is an excellent collection and they all have impact and reflection on England today.
September 15, 2021
This is the first short story collection Galley Beggar have published in the three years I have been a Galley Buddy subscriber - which seems a little surprising given that they also run a short story prize. Uschi Gatward's stories have been published by a variety of magazines, and Galley Beggar published one of the stories here (Beltane) as a one-off in 2017.
The collection is very impressive and varied, which makes it rather difficult to describe as a unified whole. Three of the stories (Beltane, Samhain and Lammas) are named after ancient festivals, but apart from that there is little to link the rest of the stories apart perhaps from a general sense of unease that pervades most of the protagonists.
Beltane is the most closely related to the title of the collection, describing the experiences of a couple visiting a ritual festival for the first time, and it has a very impressive atmosphere .
The opening story The Clinic moves from being a story of motherhood to more paranoid dystopian territory within a few pages, and the political concerns are just as strong in Oh Whistle And, in which the activities of a group of people only related by the interest the security services are paying to their online activities - the characters in this story are all given single letter codenames.
Politics are also prominent in Lammas, in which an old man's fragmented memories include describing his involvement in radical protests including the Lammas Day protests of 1892, in which the demonstrators fought to protest their access to common land in Leyton marshes.
Overall this is an impressive collection, well worth reading.
The collection is very impressive and varied, which makes it rather difficult to describe as a unified whole. Three of the stories (Beltane, Samhain and Lammas) are named after ancient festivals, but apart from that there is little to link the rest of the stories apart perhaps from a general sense of unease that pervades most of the protagonists.
Beltane is the most closely related to the title of the collection, describing the experiences of a couple visiting a ritual festival for the first time, and it has a very impressive atmosphere .
The opening story The Clinic moves from being a story of motherhood to more paranoid dystopian territory within a few pages, and the political concerns are just as strong in Oh Whistle And, in which the activities of a group of people only related by the interest the security services are paying to their online activities - the characters in this story are all given single letter codenames.
Politics are also prominent in Lammas, in which an old man's fragmented memories include describing his involvement in radical protests including the Lammas Day protests of 1892, in which the demonstrators fought to protest their access to common land in Leyton marshes.
Overall this is an impressive collection, well worth reading.
September 19, 2021
A late conker found today, maybe the last of the year, but fresh, gleaming - the white top vernixy, dissolving when she rubbed in with her thumb, the burnish almost damp.
English Magic is the debut short-story collection from Uschi Gatward, and published by one of the UK's finest publishers, the small-independent Galley Beggar Press, whose books have featured in every year of the Republic of Consciousness Prize.
English Magic consists of 12 stories over 160 pages. 11 have been published previously, at least in an earlier form, including one by Galley Beggar, with, I think, Lammas the only new story here.
The collection isn't particularly coherent, perhaps unsurpisingly given the stories were published from 2013-2020 and in a variety of publications, although Gumble's Yard's review brings out some common themes (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...).
And the quality, at least for my taste, was also rather variable.
While a lover of short novels, I have a slighly less easy relationship with the short-story form, and the first two pieces here, 'The Clinic' and 'My Brother is Back' speak a little to why: both nicely set-up but rather lacking a payoff. I'd categorise 'The Bird', 'The Crèche' and 'Backgammon' similarly. Of these more conventional stories, 'Oh Margate Sands' was perhaps the most successful.
'Oh Whistle And' was more interesting and innovative, and, published in 2016, anticipates the "It’s ……….Rebekah Vardy’s account" revelation that rocked Instagram and Twitter in late 2019, and which still dominates much discourse. Inspired by the Edward Snowden affair, it's a fascinating account of the painstaking monitoring work our security services undertake to keep the country safe, but also the collateral damage and unconscious (or conscious) bias that can result.
'Lammas', the one original story, told in a fractured style was also worthwhile.
'Beltane', by contrast, was a rather tedious account of a pagan/hippie festival whose points passed me by. 'Lurve' (set in the Whitechapenl art scene) and 'What's for You Won't Go by You' (based around drug addiction) were equally dull - in all three cases, and despite the stories being less than 20 pages, I found myself skim-reading and skipping.
And for me the stand-out story was the atmospheric, and rather disturbing, 'Samhain', set at Halloween and centred around conkers, a great story to read during the current season.
Overall, an uneven collection. 3 stars.
English Magic is the debut short-story collection from Uschi Gatward, and published by one of the UK's finest publishers, the small-independent Galley Beggar Press, whose books have featured in every year of the Republic of Consciousness Prize.
English Magic consists of 12 stories over 160 pages. 11 have been published previously, at least in an earlier form, including one by Galley Beggar, with, I think, Lammas the only new story here.
The collection isn't particularly coherent, perhaps unsurpisingly given the stories were published from 2013-2020 and in a variety of publications, although Gumble's Yard's review brings out some common themes (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...).
And the quality, at least for my taste, was also rather variable.
While a lover of short novels, I have a slighly less easy relationship with the short-story form, and the first two pieces here, 'The Clinic' and 'My Brother is Back' speak a little to why: both nicely set-up but rather lacking a payoff. I'd categorise 'The Bird', 'The Crèche' and 'Backgammon' similarly. Of these more conventional stories, 'Oh Margate Sands' was perhaps the most successful.
'Oh Whistle And' was more interesting and innovative, and, published in 2016, anticipates the "It’s ……….Rebekah Vardy’s account" revelation that rocked Instagram and Twitter in late 2019, and which still dominates much discourse. Inspired by the Edward Snowden affair, it's a fascinating account of the painstaking monitoring work our security services undertake to keep the country safe, but also the collateral damage and unconscious (or conscious) bias that can result.
'Lammas', the one original story, told in a fractured style was also worthwhile.
'Beltane', by contrast, was a rather tedious account of a pagan/hippie festival whose points passed me by. 'Lurve' (set in the Whitechapenl art scene) and 'What's for You Won't Go by You' (based around drug addiction) were equally dull - in all three cases, and despite the stories being less than 20 pages, I found myself skim-reading and skipping.
And for me the stand-out story was the atmospheric, and rather disturbing, 'Samhain', set at Halloween and centred around conkers, a great story to read during the current season.
Overall, an uneven collection. 3 stars.
January 4, 2022
January 4, 2022 Update Shocking news of the author Uschi Gatward's (1972-2021) passing due to a short illness via publisher Galley Beggar Press.
Uneven, but Some of Extraordinary Interest
Review of the Galley Beggars limited edition black cover paperback edition (2021)
[3 rating, rounding up from an average rating of 2.5 out of 5 for the 12 stories]
Uschi Gatward's first short story collection contains stories that are mostly of two styles. The main style is one of straight reportage of events. Sometimes, these are of a dystopic nature such as the opener futuristic The Clinic and the police state My Brother is Back. Often they are chronicles of events, such as attending a May Day Fair, going to the seaside, rescuing a bird from a chimney, playing a backgammon game etc. These latter ones do not often build up much drama or suspense. They're well written but I often failed to engage in the story. A few others had characters for which I had no sympathy, which caused further disengagement.
There were however two stories that really stood out here. First there was Oh Whistle and with its cryptic text which required some amount of de-cyphering in order to follow. Second was Lammas, a historical fiction looking back on events in 1892. Both of these were in a more experimental style which I found much more intriguing that the stories of straightforward reportage. Oh Whistle and was particularly clever with the way its style mirrored its topics of espionage.
1. The Clinic (2014) *** Vague story of an apparent future dystopic society where a couple tries to hide their gifted daughter from the authorities.
2. My Brother is Back (2016) *** A Muslim detainee (who has apparently been imprisoned somewhere in the USA) is released back to his home country in the UK without any money. This is inspired by the true-life story of Syed Talha Ahsan, per the interview with author Uschi Gatward linked below.
3. Oh Whistle and (2016) **** Cryptic story with various characters identified only by one-letter codenames who are engaged in two plotlines. One relates to a Union vs. Management intrigue. The other relates to a possible terrorist underground being spied on by the authorities. This story is available at The White Review (April 2016) where it was first published online.
4. Beltane (2017) ** A couple from London attend a May Day Festival in the countryside. There are extremely detailed descriptions of the activities, but nothing really happens. There is a hint of a Wicker Man burning which adds the only level of suspense, but only by association.
5. The Bird (2014) *** A couple returned from their honeymoon sort out their wedding presents and money while debating what to do about a bird stuck down their chimney.
6. On Margate Sands (2015) *** Two female students are having a beach holiday and go to the Fairgrounds nearby. The only drama is in the search for a house decorated with shells that one of them remembers from their childhood.
7. The Crèche (2013) ** A group of mothers and young children spend a day at a seaside outing.
8. Lurve (2017) * Random story of some wannabe artists or hangers-on going to art gallery parties.
9. Lammas (2021) **** Telegraphic telling of the Lammas Day Riots of 1892 with some flash forwards to later years with elderly survivors looking back. Note: Link also defines what the Celtic word Samhain means (see next story).
10. Samhain (2016) *** A family goes to a park and then makes preparations and dresses up for Samhain (Celtic Halloween). There is no real plot here, but the atmosphere is captured well. I had to look up what conker means.
11. What's for You Won't Go by You (2019) * Tedious story of two drink and drug addicts recovering from opiate abuse with methadone.
12. Backgammon (2020) ** Some friends get together for an evening and play backgammon.
I read English Magic in its limited edition release available to supporters of the Galley Beggar Press' Galley Buddy subscription program.
Other Reviews
Exquisitely Eerie Withholding by Lara Pawson at The Guardian, July 29, 2021.
Book Review by Electra Nanou at Book Breath, September 16, 2021.
Author Interview
An Interview with Uschi Gatward at Wasafiri, January 1, 2017.
Uneven, but Some of Extraordinary Interest
Review of the Galley Beggars limited edition black cover paperback edition (2021)
[3 rating, rounding up from an average rating of 2.5 out of 5 for the 12 stories]
Uschi Gatward's first short story collection contains stories that are mostly of two styles. The main style is one of straight reportage of events. Sometimes, these are of a dystopic nature such as the opener futuristic The Clinic and the police state My Brother is Back. Often they are chronicles of events, such as attending a May Day Fair, going to the seaside, rescuing a bird from a chimney, playing a backgammon game etc. These latter ones do not often build up much drama or suspense. They're well written but I often failed to engage in the story. A few others had characters for which I had no sympathy, which caused further disengagement.
There were however two stories that really stood out here. First there was Oh Whistle and with its cryptic text which required some amount of de-cyphering in order to follow. Second was Lammas, a historical fiction looking back on events in 1892. Both of these were in a more experimental style which I found much more intriguing that the stories of straightforward reportage. Oh Whistle and was particularly clever with the way its style mirrored its topics of espionage.
1. The Clinic (2014) *** Vague story of an apparent future dystopic society where a couple tries to hide their gifted daughter from the authorities.
2. My Brother is Back (2016) *** A Muslim detainee (who has apparently been imprisoned somewhere in the USA) is released back to his home country in the UK without any money. This is inspired by the true-life story of Syed Talha Ahsan, per the interview with author Uschi Gatward linked below.
3. Oh Whistle and (2016) **** Cryptic story with various characters identified only by one-letter codenames who are engaged in two plotlines. One relates to a Union vs. Management intrigue. The other relates to a possible terrorist underground being spied on by the authorities. This story is available at The White Review (April 2016) where it was first published online.
4. Beltane (2017) ** A couple from London attend a May Day Festival in the countryside. There are extremely detailed descriptions of the activities, but nothing really happens. There is a hint of a Wicker Man burning which adds the only level of suspense, but only by association.
5. The Bird (2014) *** A couple returned from their honeymoon sort out their wedding presents and money while debating what to do about a bird stuck down their chimney.
6. On Margate Sands (2015) *** Two female students are having a beach holiday and go to the Fairgrounds nearby. The only drama is in the search for a house decorated with shells that one of them remembers from their childhood.
7. The Crèche (2013) ** A group of mothers and young children spend a day at a seaside outing.
8. Lurve (2017) * Random story of some wannabe artists or hangers-on going to art gallery parties.
9. Lammas (2021) **** Telegraphic telling of the Lammas Day Riots of 1892 with some flash forwards to later years with elderly survivors looking back. Note: Link also defines what the Celtic word Samhain means (see next story).
10. Samhain (2016) *** A family goes to a park and then makes preparations and dresses up for Samhain (Celtic Halloween). There is no real plot here, but the atmosphere is captured well. I had to look up what conker means.
11. What's for You Won't Go by You (2019) * Tedious story of two drink and drug addicts recovering from opiate abuse with methadone.
12. Backgammon (2020) ** Some friends get together for an evening and play backgammon.
I read English Magic in its limited edition release available to supporters of the Galley Beggar Press' Galley Buddy subscription program.
Other Reviews
Exquisitely Eerie Withholding by Lara Pawson at The Guardian, July 29, 2021.
Book Review by Electra Nanou at Book Breath, September 16, 2021.
Author Interview
An Interview with Uschi Gatward at Wasafiri, January 1, 2017.
September 7, 2021
Well this was stunning, I think some of the most talented writers are those that can produce a short story and take you on what feels like an epic journey and make you forget that it is only 20 or so pages long. Gatward manages to do this again and again. The stories in this collection all feel very different, she seems to be able to capture so many different voices and every story takes the reader in a new direction. She gives nothing away, you can tell something sinister is going on but have no idea until she is ready to share, the opening story “The Clinic” really shocked me, I thought I was getting a story about the fears of parenthood…not at all, it was far scarier than that.
Gatward toys with the readers emotions revealing your paranoia and fears, this is done so well in “Beltane” a normal celebration which leaves you constantly on edge trying to figure out what the sinister plot is and in “Oh Whistle And” (my favourite) she ramps up the pressure by replacing the characters names with letters so that you are never sure who is who and whom to trust. Another fantastic story was “My Brother Is Back” a man released by the US after being held in captivity for a number of years, it’s about him trying to find his family again but his time in prison and sudden release leaves him unsure of his place or even what day of the week it is. Finally another good ‘un was “Lammas” to me this felt like a story told in echoes, an old man remembering events from his past in small muddled glimpses, every now and then you get hit hard by a gentle line.
This is such a good debut collection, you can see why Galley Beggar Press produce so many award winners, it is their dedication to finding that perfect book.
Blog review: https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2021...
Gatward toys with the readers emotions revealing your paranoia and fears, this is done so well in “Beltane” a normal celebration which leaves you constantly on edge trying to figure out what the sinister plot is and in “Oh Whistle And” (my favourite) she ramps up the pressure by replacing the characters names with letters so that you are never sure who is who and whom to trust. Another fantastic story was “My Brother Is Back” a man released by the US after being held in captivity for a number of years, it’s about him trying to find his family again but his time in prison and sudden release leaves him unsure of his place or even what day of the week it is. Finally another good ‘un was “Lammas” to me this felt like a story told in echoes, an old man remembering events from his past in small muddled glimpses, every now and then you get hit hard by a gentle line.
This is such a good debut collection, you can see why Galley Beggar Press produce so many award winners, it is their dedication to finding that perfect book.
Blog review: https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2021...
May 9, 2022
When I was in my early twenties, I used to love reading short stories. I thought that an author can get a lot out of a few pages. Over the years I sort of fell out with them as the quality tends to vary. Saying that ever since I started to follow small presses, I began to appreciate the format again. Since Galley Beggar Press are one of my favorite publishers AND the last short story collection they released was in 2015, one has an inkling that English Magic will be something special.
All the stories in this book focus on an aspect of British culture. This is not some P.G. Woodehouse take though. There are beaches, cottages, politics, immigration and some other topical subjects. The first story, in fact is about a couple trying to immunise their child so that they can escape to the forest. Another one consists of spies or terrorists using code names relating to the alphabet and are being reported on by the government.
In Rob Young’s Electric Eden , he states that pagan rites and rituals are integral to British life and true to that there are two stories which refer to pagan rituals , Samhain and Beltane and the Christian one Lammas (Blessing of the loaves). As someone who is fascinated by films such as Wicker Man, I found this trio interesting.
My personal favorite is Bird, where a couple find a gull lodged in the fireplace. At time I was reminded of Patrick Suskind’s The Pigeon , as it is also about the psychological effects a bird in an enclosed area can have (coincidentally on the day I read that story my sister told me that two birds flew into her house and went behind the wardrobe leading to her and her husband trying to catch or chase them out. )
Unfortunately Uschi Gatward passed away late last year and it is a pity as I would have liked to read more work by this talented author. Considering that English Magic is a debut offering, one can only guess how far her abilities could go.
All the stories in this book focus on an aspect of British culture. This is not some P.G. Woodehouse take though. There are beaches, cottages, politics, immigration and some other topical subjects. The first story, in fact is about a couple trying to immunise their child so that they can escape to the forest. Another one consists of spies or terrorists using code names relating to the alphabet and are being reported on by the government.
In Rob Young’s Electric Eden , he states that pagan rites and rituals are integral to British life and true to that there are two stories which refer to pagan rituals , Samhain and Beltane and the Christian one Lammas (Blessing of the loaves). As someone who is fascinated by films such as Wicker Man, I found this trio interesting.
My personal favorite is Bird, where a couple find a gull lodged in the fireplace. At time I was reminded of Patrick Suskind’s The Pigeon , as it is also about the psychological effects a bird in an enclosed area can have (coincidentally on the day I read that story my sister told me that two birds flew into her house and went behind the wardrobe leading to her and her husband trying to catch or chase them out. )
Unfortunately Uschi Gatward passed away late last year and it is a pity as I would have liked to read more work by this talented author. Considering that English Magic is a debut offering, one can only guess how far her abilities could go.
July 31, 2022
Favourite stories:
The clinic
My brother is back
The bird
What's for you won't go by you
Backgammon
The clinic
My brother is back
The bird
What's for you won't go by you
Backgammon
September 16, 2021
English Magic is a must-read debut in fiction and short story collections. High-quality experiences await inside to take you from the sweet and mundane to the unsavoury and distressing. This is also a great choice for writers who want to know how to tell simple short stories in unique and intriguing ways.
Read my full review here: https://bookbreath.blog/2021/09/16/bo...
Read my full review here: https://bookbreath.blog/2021/09/16/bo...
January 15, 2022
Extraordinary.
August 9, 2022
Great collection of short stories. All slightly quirky and featuring different visions of England, some dystopian.
Final book of this years James Tait Black shortlist.
Final book of this years James Tait Black shortlist.
July 13, 2024
Rich portrait of English life from all aspects of society. I really like the way she plays with magic and you have to investigate where it lives in all the different stories
September 11, 2022
3.5 rounded up. Overall uneven with a handful of keepers.
December 5, 2023
I really enjoyed this collection of short stories. Gatward’s prose leaves room to interpret. Details are implied, and paying close attention as a reader allows you to speculate on the possibilities of the characters and the stories.
The running theme that connects many of these stories for me is ‘seeking emancipation’. Those characters are angstly yearning to be unmonitored, to be left to freely do as they wish. There’s a lot of compassion evident in many stories, too… saving and/or protecting certain things or others.
This collection also juxtaposes modern with ancient. Some stories are themed on things like big data, digital surveillance, commuter towns, gentrification… whilst some stories are related to folklore, paganist ceremony, and other old English pastimes. Still, even those latter stories are set in a time of tinned lager and roll-ups.
Favourite stories: The Creché, Samhain, Oh Whistle And
The running theme that connects many of these stories for me is ‘seeking emancipation’. Those characters are angstly yearning to be unmonitored, to be left to freely do as they wish. There’s a lot of compassion evident in many stories, too… saving and/or protecting certain things or others.
This collection also juxtaposes modern with ancient. Some stories are themed on things like big data, digital surveillance, commuter towns, gentrification… whilst some stories are related to folklore, paganist ceremony, and other old English pastimes. Still, even those latter stories are set in a time of tinned lager and roll-ups.
Favourite stories: The Creché, Samhain, Oh Whistle And
June 16, 2022
Some stories were so magical and I really enjoyed reading them, others... I couldn't really get into.
December 17, 2022
No idea what this book was about...
January 17, 2025
“I wonder about loneliness. Maybe we’ll find some of the others? There must be others.” In English Magic, Uschi Gatward’s debut short story collection, the everyday is imbued with the utmost significant over and over, whether that’s in the exploration of futility, how we try to make meaning within the mundane (as well as the malign), in ‘The Créche’; or in the dual paranoia of ‘Oh Whistle And’ — the grasping at straws of the system, and the (justified) fear of the system (the government, and so on) felt by some of the characters, who are reduced to letters by the narrator, so preoccupied with algebra and algorithms in a story of fascism and/or freedom. Gatward has a real talent for creating subtly unsettling atmospheres and a sense of disquiet that’s almost impossible to pin down; in ‘The Clinic’, for instance, a family make their desperate bid for freedom from a state whose oppressive nature is only hinted at, while in ‘Beltane’, May day festivities seem to take on this oddly charged sense of doom, even though nothing all that unusual actually
comes to pass. Likewise ‘The Bird’, a story that begins so Poe-like — the maddening sound of a bird trapped in a wall, pecking and pecking — takes an unexpected turn to the sublime, its protagonists changed by their efforts to free the trapped bird. Elsewhere I enjoyed ‘Lurve’, in which the art world is a mortar for issues of class, race, and other otherings, and musings on memory/disparity in ‘On Margate Sands’.
comes to pass. Likewise ‘The Bird’, a story that begins so Poe-like — the maddening sound of a bird trapped in a wall, pecking and pecking — takes an unexpected turn to the sublime, its protagonists changed by their efforts to free the trapped bird. Elsewhere I enjoyed ‘Lurve’, in which the art world is a mortar for issues of class, race, and other otherings, and musings on memory/disparity in ‘On Margate Sands’.
November 11, 2022
The fact that this book contains some very intriguing well-crafted stories, hinting at the promise of a writer only beginning to achieve her writing potential, makes the untimely death of the author all the more tragic.
The stories contained in this book range in stylistic approach and narrative intent. The opening story, in my view, was the best, evocative, eerie, hinting at a dystopian world which threatens the heart of a family, while refusing to tell the reader anything concrete about the bricks and mortar of the world in which the protagonists lived. The delights of having the horrors of the world left to the fevered imagination of the reader is one of the great joys of this particular story.
Not all of the stories had the same impact as the opening one, however, all had an element of magnification in them, taking one small incident or personal experience and placing that at the heart of the narrative.
It is with some sadness that we will not get to see how this writer intended to follow up this collection of the stories. However, the legacy that she leaves behind in the written word, is a testament of the writer she was, and the writer she could have been.
The stories contained in this book range in stylistic approach and narrative intent. The opening story, in my view, was the best, evocative, eerie, hinting at a dystopian world which threatens the heart of a family, while refusing to tell the reader anything concrete about the bricks and mortar of the world in which the protagonists lived. The delights of having the horrors of the world left to the fevered imagination of the reader is one of the great joys of this particular story.
Not all of the stories had the same impact as the opening one, however, all had an element of magnification in them, taking one small incident or personal experience and placing that at the heart of the narrative.
It is with some sadness that we will not get to see how this writer intended to follow up this collection of the stories. However, the legacy that she leaves behind in the written word, is a testament of the writer she was, and the writer she could have been.
October 6, 2021
I read this solely because it was my first book in a subscription to Galley Beggar Press, which I took up a) on the basis of Ducks, Newburyport and Insignificance, b) a very plush physical product, and c) I like getting things in the post, especially when I’ve forgotten ordering them. All of which is to say, I ordinarily wouldn’t have bought a collection of short stories.
‘Oh Whistle And’ was a big highlight for me, in keeping with other reviewers. Other than that I thought the stories were fine - not much payoff, which is the reason short stories don’t sizzle my scooter. Nice looking book though.
‘Oh Whistle And’ was a big highlight for me, in keeping with other reviewers. Other than that I thought the stories were fine - not much payoff, which is the reason short stories don’t sizzle my scooter. Nice looking book though.
February 3, 2023
What a wonderful collection of short stories & what a tragedy that the author was diagnosed with cancer in the same month that this collection was published. Even the title is somewhat misleading as it may lead one to think the collection is going to be about England as a green & pleasant land, but Gatward is more interested with outliers, outsiders etc & the tone & settings of many of the stories are unexpected, but draw you in. The opening story of The Clinic is wonderfully troubling & reminded me of dystopian authors, but Gatward writes with pared-down clarity that works brilliantly. I'm heartbroken she was taken too soon & will treasure my copy of Gatward's short stories.
December 29, 2025
Picked this up at random, having never heard of the author or the publisher. It is very nicely produced though and the physical book is high quality - this does help. It is a collection of short stories,some linked to contemporary events,others celebrating pagan ritual. It ranges quite widely, but perhaps a focal point is London folk, - early-middle aged people of a middle-class frame of mind indulging in their various desires or attachments.
One or two stories baffled me at first,and took me a while to get oriented but on the whole I really enjoyed this collection from a very good writer who is able to say something new about English life.
One or two stories baffled me at first,and took me a while to get oriented but on the whole I really enjoyed this collection from a very good writer who is able to say something new about English life.
September 26, 2021
A magical, unsettling collection of short stories set in worlds which in some ways are similar and in others very different to our own. I loved how each of these stories showed a day or event or snapshot and left the reader to fill in the gaps of what came before and after. These are stories to spark your imagination, and left me hungry for more.
December 26, 2021
Very elliptical and subtle stories covering lots of different English landscapes from single mums on a day trip to arty types gallery hopping in London, to menacing folk traditions in the countryside and more. An odd moment in one story involving George Galloway of all people. If you like modern short stories then I would recommend this.
May 23, 2022
Each short story in this collection leaves you strangely unsettled. There is a sinister undercurrent of tension throughout, like spying something out of the corner of your eye ... it doesn't always materalise but you know it's there. Creative and imaginative writing. Sadly this was published posthumously meaning we've lost a talented writer.
May 29, 2022
The stories are diverse, set in contrasting contexts and even eras but apart from being set in England - London mostly - they are totally unlinked. The writing was good but sometimes I reached the end of the story and turned the page expecting more. The tale called Lurve completely lost me. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for short stories.
November 17, 2024
Something quite did not make this collection gel and move me, and perhaps it's cause they require a more engaged reading that I was able or willing to provide. Whatever the case, I could not help finding the writing often too contrived, feeling the writer chose artifice at the expense of delivering the stories in a more direct and more compelling way.
October 25, 2025
It has taken me a long time to complete this book of short stories. Most of the stories, I did not find particularly enjoyable. They were either unresolved to my mind ( what was the writer trying to make me understand with this tale) and/or made me feel uneasy. In my opinion the first tale , The Clinic’ is the best of them all.
August 15, 2022
Some really exciting short stories here (especially the first and last stories in the collection I loved), that pick up on and explore the weirdness in British culture. There is something wonderful and insurgent about the (re)discovery of folkloric strangeness in modernity.
February 11, 2024
Very much enjoyed this unsettling collection of short stories, the way the author captures this sense of 'something is not right here' or a 'calm before the storm' effect is fascinating. Just finished and discovered the author has very recently passed, and I'm devastated.
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April 25, 2024birthday gift from my mum - read this as I was interrailing in eastern europe! good company. writing this review 7 months after finishing so can’t fully remember the stories distinctly but I remember some being much more engaging than others
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