The Small Hand

Susan Hill is the author of The Woman In Black and over 50 other spooky stories in the tradition of MR James and Shirley Jackson. Her latest tells the story of Adam Snow, a dealer in rare books who takes one of those pesky wrong turns without which so few of these stories would ever get told and ends up at a derelict house with an overgrown garden in the middle of anywhere. Something draws him to step out of his car and admire the view... and when he does, he feels a child's hand take his and begin to lead him away. He resists and leaves, but finds himself haunted by the memory of this small ghost over the weeks that follow... and drawn into investigating a dark mystery from his own childhood that may hold the answer.

As you might expect, this is a novel big on atmosphere, a masterclass in milking the utmost tension from a limited number of spooky scenes. Hill builds the mystery slowly while following Adam to a remote French monastery in search of a rare Shakespeare first folio, before he's lured back to the ramshackle garden where his adventure began for a cruel reveal. It's a short tale, expertly told. It's a few weeks since I put it down but vivid images linger.

Sleep No More

I first heard about LTC Rolt's Sleep No More a few years ago in an article on classic British ghost stories. Unfortunately the book was out of print and the only copies I could find on either Amazon or eBay were going for silly money. Earlier this year I noticed Rolt's anthology had been republished and added it to my wishlist, thinking I'd get round to it soon. It quickly went out of print again (a small run, perhaps, and unexpected demand) but luckily I managed to secure a copy before the prices started rising.

Tom Rolt was a writer between the 1940s and 70s who specialised in factual books about the history of British railways, canals and industry, as well as biographies of famous engineers such as Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Thomas Telford. But he was also a fan of the supernatural, and wrote a number of creepy short stories that combined his various interests in macabre fashion.

Here are stories of haunted mines and foundries, tragic railway tunnel disasters, lonely moors with mysterious buildings that appear from nowhere in the fog, remote islands with eerily lit castles, and cars that break down miles from nowhere on stormy nights. Atmosphere is everything in Rolt's writing, and his detailed knowledge of the subject matter lends these short tales a chilling authenticity. Like John Wyndham, Rolt is writing of a Britain that's hardly recognisable nowadays, yet despite his rather middle-class leanings he's unafraid to venture into darker territory when the story requires.

In her introduction, Susan Hill mentions Rolt's love of MR James, which shines through in these stories. But while many of James's stories were set in towns and cities, Rolt ventures away from civilization to investigate the creepier corners of the British isles. If you've ever found yourself lost and alone on misty moorland - or stared into the darkness of an old abandoned railway tunnel - these are the stories for you.