Ghostland: In Search of a Haunted Country cover art

Ghostland: In Search of a Haunted Country

In Search of a Haunted Country

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Ghostland: In Search of a Haunted Country

By: Edward Parnell
Narrated by: Sam Woolf
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About this listen

‘A uniquely strange and wonderful work of literature’ Philip Hoare

‘An exciting new voice’ Mark Cocker, author of Crow Country

In his late thirties, Edward Parnell found himself trapped in the recurring nightmare of a family tragedy. For comfort, he turned to his bookshelves, back to the ghost stories that obsessed him as a boy, and to the writers through the ages who have attempted to confront what comes after death.

In Ghostland, Parnell goes in search of the ‘sequestered places’ of the British Isles, our lonely moors, our moss-covered cemeteries, our stark shores and our folkloric woodlands. He explores how these landscapes conjured and shaped a kaleidoscopic spectrum of literature and cinema, from the ghost stories and weird fiction of M. R. James, Arthur Machen and Algernon Blackwood to the children’s fantasy novels of Alan Garner and Susan Cooper; from W. G. Sebald’s The Rings of Saturn and Graham Swift’s Waterland to the archetypal ‘folk horror’ film The Wicker Man

Ghostland is Parnell’s moving exploration of what has haunted our writers and artists – and what is haunting him. It is a unique and elegiac meditation on grief, memory and longing, and of the redemptive power of stories and nature.

Art & Literature Authors Cultural & Regional Ghosts Grief & Loss Horror Nature & Ecology Outdoors & Nature Personal Development Relationships Science Grief Fantasy Scary Heartfelt Inspiring Emotionally Gripping Thought-Provoking

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Critic reviews

‘Ghostland is a delicious, creepy, gothic gazetteer to a British landscape filled with folkloric, literary and filmic spirits, avian auguries, and natural history and a deeply touching personal grief that speaks to the hauntedness of childhood memory and teenage dreams. Obsessive, possessive, nostalgic, an act of vivid retrieval – this is a uniquely strange and wonderful work of literature’ Philip Hoare

Psychogeography at is finest, Ghostland is a personal meditation on the primal power of the British landscape to shape literature, film and television that tunes into the core collective experience of the Haunted Generation’ Cathi Unsworth, author of Weirdo

‘Part memoir of family to two parts brilliant excursion into folk-horror darkness and literary nooks and crannies’ Roger Clarke, author of A Natural History of Ghosts

Ghostland is both haunting and entertaining, echoing with an enthusiast’s love for that which is out of kilter with the everyday; things not quite right glimpsed from the corner of the eye’ Stuart Maconie, Mail on Sunday

‘A marvellous blend of travel writing, history and grief memoir, Ghostland provides not only a seance with the author’s lost family, but also a premonition of his dazzling literary future’ Paul Willetts, author of Members Only, filmed as The Look of Love

‘A skilful and intriguing weaving together, less of haunted houses as of haunted people, including MR James, Alan Garner, W G Sebald and the author himself, in places where the past has left its mark’ George Szirtes, author of The Photographer at Sixteen

‘His is a wonderfully evocative book, creating a sense of place and invoking the power of literature and nature.’ The Guardian

‘Throughout this impeccably researched book, there is…a fascination with figures in a landscape glimpsed out of the corner of the eye.’ Literary Review

All stars
Most relevant
An Autobiographical guide book to wyrd Britain achingly sad but beautiful it will reignite your love of Britain's wilder places and the myths and legends of its counties it will remind you of books you've read films and tv series you remember and introduce a few of both that you don't . It will cause sorrow but is not maudlin it is magick . The audible performance is excellent too.

Magnificent moving and insightful

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A truly unique book that defies categorisation. It is a go to reference for all fans of 20th century ghost stories and programmes, an exploration of how the British landscape inspires these and a poignant autobiography dealing with loss through understated and heart-rending writing that is more powerful and touching than sensationalism could ever be. A great book for anyone interested in the edgelands of Britain, 70s / 80s hauntology, classic ghost stories and the ultimate fragility of human life. The author weaves these strands together expertly. Although he compares the loss of his family with the ghosts, he has kept their memories alive with his writing and description of the happy times they shared and introduced them to his readers who cannot fail to be touched by the encounter. A significant achievement. Lovely narration that matches the tone perfectly.

Unique and Beautiful

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beautiful, eldritch, fascinating and devastatingly sad. a haunting and achingly sad book. very good indeed.

beautiful, eldritch, fascinating and devastating

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Great book. Part travelogue part biography, part history of supernatural media,. Edward Parnell talks of family tragedy and loss, entwined with a bit of twitching. Fab and very moving in parts.

The ghosts are always with you...

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I was a girl who curled up with ghost and horror stories and dreamed of being a witch......this fabulous almanac of everything British Isles ghostly is wonderful. But also, what a balm for the grieving......

Oh the grief!

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