Winterwood and Other Hauntings

Welcome to a haunted world; the world of Keith Roberts'' powerful and unique imagination. These stories show Roberts'' fascination for the curious and unclassifiable; and as ever, his mastery of character and detail. ''Susan'' introduces the reader to a schoolgirl with awesome psychic powers; but the sensitive treatment turns a shock situation into a brilliant fable, while ''The Scarlet Lady'', predating Stephen King''s Christine, has the genuine stench of petrol, oil and demons. ''The Eastern Windows'' chillingly continues the theme; by contrast, ''Winderwood'' introduces us to a fearsome locale that Roberts insists is real. ''Mrs. Cibber'' transports the reader, with complete conviction, to the smog-ridden London of the fifties and unfolds the strange tale of a young graphic designer haunted by a woman from the eighteenth century. ''The Snake Princess'', equally atmospheric, tells the story of a boy''s doomed, bizarre love, while ''Everything in the Garden'' presents the tour de force of a haunting within a haunting.