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From Dickens's A Christmas Carol to the ghost stories of M.R. James, the tradition of a haunted tale at Christmas has flourished across the centuries. The twelve stories of The Winter Spirits are all centred around Christmas or Advent, boldly and playfully re-imagining a beloved tradition for a modern audience. Taking you from a haunted Tuscan villa to a remote Scottish island with a dark secret, and drawing inspiration from festive traditions from all around the globe, these vibrant haunted stories are your ultimate companion for frosty nights.

'Now's the time to curl up with a ghostly tale - and this collection should be your go to!' Fabulous 'This cracking collection of spooky tales is perfect for the season of darkling nights' Mail on Sunday FROM THE CREATORS OF THE HAUNTING SEASON AND THE WINTER SPIRITS COMES A BRAND NEW COLLECTION...

Eve and Dinah are everything to one another, never parted day or night. They are raised among the Children, a commune of strays and orphans ruled by Uncle, the mysterious patriarch. All they know is the grey Isle of Altnaharra which sits in the black sea off the wildest coast of Scotland. Eve loves the free, savage life of the Isle and longs to inherit Uncle's vision. She is untroubled save by her dreams of soft arms and a woman singing. Dinah longs for something other.

Thora and Santi have met before. Under the clocktower in Central Cologne, with nothing but the stars above and their futures ahead. They don’t know it yet, but they’ll meet again: in numerous lives they will become friends, colleagues, lovers, enemies - meeting over and over for the first time, every time; each coming to know every version of the other. Only they can make sure it’s not for the last time. But as they’re endlessly drawn together and the lines between their different lives begin to blur, they are faced with one question: why? 

Nagi Hayakawa is facing an impossible choice. Should she agree to marry her boyfriend, despite being ill and not knowing how many years she has left to live, or should she protect him from future heartbreak by refusing? Desperate for advice from the one person no longer there to give it - her mother who died years before - she reserves a table at the Chibineko Kitchen.

'Darkly compelling' - JOANNE HARRIS 'You won't be able to stop reading' - VIRGINIA FEITO A place for lost children may also be their prison... High in the mountains sits Nowhere, a verdant valley surrounded by walls of rock. People have lived at Nowhere for centuries, though never for long, and...

Nanako Hanada's life is in crisis. Recently separated from her husband, living in youth hostels and internet cafes, her work is going no better. Book sales at the eccentric Village Vanguard bookstore in Tokyo, which Nanako manages, are dwindling. Fallen out of love in all aspects of her life, Nanako realises how narrow her life has become, with no friends outside of her colleagues, and no hobbies apart from reading and arranging books. That's when Nanako joins a meet-up site where people meet for 30-minute bursts to find romance, build a network, or just share ideas.

Reeling from the death of her husband, thirty-something audiobook narrator Lindsay Hale retreats to her Scottish hometown and the comforts of old times. The bungalow where she grew up is just as she left it, next to the scrapyard her family still owns. But something is wrong…something beyond grief. Something she can only glimpse from the corner of her eye.

This is the story of a murderer. A stolen child. Revenge. This is the story of Ted, who lives with his daughter, Lauren, and his cat, Olivia, in an ordinary house at the end of an ordinary street. All these things are true. And yet some of them are lies. You think you know what's inside the last house on Needless Street. You think you've come across this story before. In the dark forest at the end of Needless Street, something lies buried. But it's not what you think.

Brought to you by Penguin. When Kansas sweetheart Maggie Lathrop is crowned the winner of America’s most popular dating show, her life is transformed overnight. Suddenly, Maggie has it all: a gorgeous husband, an immaculate Los Angeles mansion, and an entourage of glamorous friends. Despite...

In this chilling collection, five acclaimed authors invite you into a world where the supernatural hides in plain sight. Look closely, and you’ll find it: lurking within an ancient tree, stalking an idyllic beach, and whispering through a friend’s letter. Your curiosity is exactly what it’s been waiting for.

2045, the Arctic Circle. A crew of six aboard the research vessel, The Nox, embark upon a voyage through the melting ice and Arctic dark in search of the last of the polar bears. The mission represents a ray of hope in a world ravaged by climate change, but it quickly becomes clear that some on board are in search of more than bears. Isolation and the disorientation of 24/7 darkness soon have the group losing their grip on reality – accidents, nightmares, or hauntings – no one can be sure, but the voyage seems cursed.

In a windswept cottage overlooking the sea, Wilder Harlow begins the last book he will ever write. It is the story of his childhood companions and the killer that stalked their small New England town. Of the body they found, the horror of that discovery echoing down the decades. And of Sky, Wilder's one-time friend, who stole his unfinished memoir and turned it into a lurid bestselling novel, Looking Glass Sound. This book will be Wilder's revenge on Sky, a man who betrayed his trust and died without ever telling him why.

A week that changes everything: When a mid-century apartment block in Oslo begins to inexplicably break down, its residents first blame faulty wiring, cracked pipes, structural fatigue. Over the course of one surreal, life-altering week, Habitat follows seven interconnected neighbours bound by family ties, old resentments, unspoken longing and fragile routines. Each experiences the building's decay in isolation, unaware - or unwilling to admit - that they are living through a shared crisis.

Rob fears for her daughters. For Callie, who collects tiny bones and whispers to imaginary friends. For Annie, because she fears what Callie might do to her. Rob sees a darkness in Callie, one that reminds her of the family she left behind. She decides to take Callie back to her childhood home, to Sundial, deep in the Mojave Desert. And there she will have to make a terrible choice. 

Edinburgh, 1948. Welfare Officer Helen Crowther has enough on her plate between her hectic job, her complicated love life, and her growing reputation as a troublemaker. Last year's scandal did nothing to help with the disapproval she already gets as a woman in her line of work. All she wants now is to focus on doing what she loves: helping the poor of the Fountainbridge ward in the city of Edinburgh. The last thing she needs is another string of murders to distract her . . .

Cambridge University student Joe Greene dreams of a future where his words will echo through the ages. Then, the future quite literally finds him – in the form of Esi. She’s part of a time-traveling tour to witness history's greatest moments. In Esi’s era, Joe is as renowned as Shakespeare. And he's about to meet Diana, a fellow student, who will become his muse and the subject of his famous love poems. But Esi is harbouring a secret. Something will happen at Cambridge this year that will wreck Esi’s life, and she’s hell-bent on changing it.

In 1910, eleven-year-old Iris Villarca lives with her father at Rawblood, a lonely house on Dartmoor. Iris and her father are the last of their name. The Villarcas always die young, bloodily. Iris believes it's because of a congenital disease which means she must isolate herself from the world. But one sunlit autumn day, beside her mother's grave, she forces the truth from her father: the disease is biologically impossible. A lie to cover a darker secret.

Follow the bank of the Koitogawa river until you reach the beach. From there a path of white seashells will lead you to the Chibineko Kitchen. Step inside, they'll be expecting you. These are the directions Kotoko has been given. She arrives at the tiny restaurant, perched right by the water, early in the morning. Still reeling from the sudden death of her brother, she's been promised that the food served there will bring him back to her, for one last time. 

Room 17 was the last stop on her husband and son’s journey. Eight years after their deaths, Stella books the same room, hoping to commune with their memories. But as she tries to sleep, disturbing and urgent visions blur the lines between reality and the supernatural, and the other side sends a terrifying message.