Book Review 📚
Winter Spirits by Various Authors - 4/5 ⭐

A bunch on seasonally themed short stories? Safe to say I was sold instantly. This is the perfect read for Christmas time and it's not overbearing for a non-reader, so would be a perfect little gift.

I have some familiarity with a handful of authors but some are also new to me and I was not disappointed. I feel like there is a theme of historical vibes happening with pretty much all the short stories, but that's not a negative for me.

It was a lovely mixture of Christmas with a hint of Halloween. It's not all happy-go-lucky! But overall it was a very enjoyable read and thoroughly recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little Brown Book Group for allowing me to read this ARC - this is an HONEST review from my own personal opinion.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sphere for an advanced copy. The Creators behind The Haunting season, and a few friends, are back with another collection of seasonally themed short stories. Each of the dozen stories contained within The Winter Spirits harks back to the seasonal horrors of old, and manages to capture the atmosphere of the periods they're set in. Catriona Ward's entry, surprisingly, didn't quite work for me, but that's probably because I wanted to see beyond the ending. Buy a copy for a friend or relative this Christmas, then watch them unwrap and enjoy it seated by the fire!

An anthology of 12 spooky tales - this looks like a treat! I was familiar with some of the authors while others were new to me. In practice I'm actually not the biggest fan of short stories these days and I also tend to find that there are some gems and some that cannot be described as that. However I live in hope and that was a good thing as this collection definitely exceeded my expectations.

None of these are actually all that short which is fine. Equally the majority are set in the UK and for the most part they are set more than a century ago. Certainly a number felt like that were rather traditional ghost tales though none the worse for that. Only two were outside the UK. One is set on Lake Garda and I thoroughly enjoyed that one. There is a touch of the Dante esque in it and it worked very well.

Another story I really enjoyed was about the making of a silk dress. I'd prefer not to give much away about any of these - that way the pleasure of the discovery is for the reader. Suffice it to say that the main character was remarkably unlikeable and I'm guess that it won't just be me who was pleased with the outcome!

Strangely my three favourites (probably) were actually consecutive stories. I found the Master of the House a disconcerting tale. It has pace and tension and I thought the idea was a good one. The story of Ada Lark was almost playful at times. Ada is an orphan who has been taken in (!?) by a medium who is becoming well established in society. Her job is not one I'd come across before but I did like it and the outcome - one that I smiled at too.

The final one that again I really enjoyed was Jenkin's story. Again disconcerting with a gradual reveal idea and this one is I think the most modern in the collection - less than 100 years ago. It is also the only one set in the USA. It is Maggie's story and almost the opening line is "Jenkin only appeared when I told a lie" - I was immediately hooked and remained so. A powerful and thought provoking story - maybe telling lies is not a good thing…

All in all a collection of good to excellent stories for those with a ghostly inkling. The quality of the writing was always good and I discovered some author I will look more deeply at. This is an anthology I would happily recommend to anyone who thinks they might like it.

I will say now this will be a long review, I wanted to review each short story separately and then the collection as a whole.

Considering how much of a wuss I am, I really enjoyed reading The Haunting Season - also done in this format - and was thrilled to see a new collection coming out.

On the whole, and I've said it before, I dislike short stories. I generally find them a bit...they're lacking in something. But given the love I have for this collection of authors, I was willing to dive in with an open mind. And if I'm honest, I really liked them all. I would have gladly read longer passages, I was hungry for more detail and more terror, and just more talent from these wonderful writers.

Host by Kiran Millwood Hargrave: This started the collection off nice and creepy. I did read it after I'd just woken from a nap so had to reread it to get the full pleasure from it, but it was worth it. I really love Kiran's books and so there should have been no doubt about loving this. It starts off a bit deceptive, but then ramps up the horror in the few pages it has, and leaves you with quite the image.

Inferno by Laura Shepherd Robinson: I found this one quite creepy to begin with. Laura has described just how eery the winter can be, and giving it anthropomorphic qualities suggests that it could be the weather that is the danger.

The Old Play by Andrew Michael Hurley: I hadn't read any of Andrew's work before and so had no idea what his writing was like. This was the first one that really frightened me, and I think that's to do with the theatre, somewhere I've performed at and spectated from. It's got this calmness juxtaposed by its rapidness, and you really get a feeling for the characters' fear.

A Double Thread by Imogen Hermes Gowar: This was slow. It was calculated. It was smart. We have all experienced this to some degree, a floorboard creaking, a door opening in the wind, a coat misidentified as a stranger. It felt so real and so cold. I really loved this one.

The Salt Miracles by Natasha Pulley: This one felt more about the outer world. It is about nature, about the thick fog, and the things you can't see in the dark and bad weather. But it's also about what your mind sees, how your brain can see a shadow and make a demon out of it. And for me, it's that kind of terror that frightened me the most. The fear of the unknown and what ones own mind can make up.

Banished by Elizabeth Macneal: What is fascinating here, is this is based on a true story. If it didn't say so right at the start, I'd never have believed it. It sounds so fantastical and make-believe. I'm not sure whether knowing it's real makes it more or less scary. The idea that this isn't just fiction, that these things can happen in real life.

The Gargoyle by Bridget Collins: This one gave me the major creeps. I won't go as far as saying I didn't like it, because that makes it sound like I didn't like the story or it wasn't well written or well received. Which it was. But it really freaked me out, I could feel it getting under my skin. I had to have a pause after this one to regroup.

The Master of the House by Stuart Turton: I've only read one of Stuart's books - The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle - and so I didn't have a thorough understanding of his writing style, but that was enough to tell me has a great grasp of the complex and the mystery. While it does have an element of horror about it, I found this one to be enormously moving and caused a tear or two whilst reading it, which I wasn't expecting at all.

Ada Lark by Jess Kid: This one felt a bit underwhelming. Not that I didn't enjoy it, it was interesting and good fun and a nice story to read. But it didn't seem to have as much as the others. I would have liked more detail, more action, more spooks, just to amp up the fear.

Jenkin by Catriona Ward: Catriona Ward is the Queen of uncomfortable psychological thrilling horrors and so I had high expectations for her story and she didn't disappoint. It's so fabulously weird and quirky but hits all the right notes.

Widow's Walk by Susan Stokes Chapman: This is a slow start in the sense that it really draws you in, gives you enough time to get to know the characters, offers you warmth and comfort and success, and then once it turns, the shocks really get under your skin more and it's fabulously frightening.

Carol of the Bells and Chains by Laura Purcell: My all-time favourite historical thriller writer. This was a proper advent wintery horror, picking up on traditional stories such as the Krampus, and in one word, it was just delicious.

Unless I am mistaken, they all seem to be set in the past - 18th and 19th Century and early 20th. These times seem to lend themselves well to the eery and the mysterious. But now it's made me wonder what a short horror story like this but set in modern times would be like. I can't see it being the same. With electricity and lights and the Internet and mobile phones, that doesn't sound nearly as mysterious as candlelight and the wind and eery silences.

I want to call this a Christmas book, but also a Halloween one, much like Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas, it can be read at both times. There's something perfect about the wintery months that bodes well for the scary.

Maybe I misread it, I knew they'd be scary horror-type books, which they were an they were great even if I am easily frightened. But I thought they would be more wintery and Christmassy, rather than just using that time period as a setting. It didn't detract from the reading, but I do wonder if that would have changed any of the stories or not.

4+

A fantastic line up of authors, that certainly know how to write a good ghost story.
The stories were atmospheric, and creepy, and the right amount of spooky.
Someone once told me that Christmas was the perfect time for ghost stories and where this book is concerned, they're right.
It's one to be savoured, (by the fireside, in the glow of the tree lights)

This was really enjoyable. Anthologies can be really hit or miss for me, but I did enjoy reading this one. Most stories were predictable but really in keeping with the style of old fashioned ghost stories

"The Winter Spirits" by all my favourite authors is probably one of the best Christmas presents you could give or receive in the festive season. All varied ghost stories, these should be savoured and not devoured at once (like I did). I shall certainly go back and read these more slowly once the Winter nights draw in.