Six strange and haunting stories, set in isolated communities inland and by the sea, where insiders stick together, and outsiders - a girl outlawed for her illegitimate child, a wild man who walks out of the sea - are regarded with suspicion.
Kevin Crossley-Holland has a genius for reinventing folk tales in a way that makes the characters real people, whose thoughts and feelings are our own. This little collection brings together some of his finest and most admired retellings, including the three best-known of all, ''The Green Children'', ''Sea-Tongue'' and ''The Wild Man''. Linked by ideas about exile and displacement, they make a thought-provoking book for our times, beautifully presented with line drawings by a notable artist.

Six strange and haunting stories, set in isolated communities inland and by the sea, where insiders stick together, and outsiders - a girl outlawed for her illegitimate child, a wild man who walks out of the sea - are regarded with suspicion.
Kevin Crossley-Holland has a genius for reinventing folk tales in a way that makes the characters real people, whose thoughts and feelings are our own. This little collection brings together some of his finest and most admired retellings, including the three best-known of all, ''The Green Children'', ''Sea-Tongue'' and ''The Wild Man''. Linked by ideas about exile and displacement, they make a thought-provoking book for our times, beautifully presented with line drawings by a notable artist.