Hollie Starling – författare

'A masterful collection' MAXINE PEAKE'Astonishing and long overdue, you really need to read this’ ALAN MOORE'An absolute treat' ADAM S. LESLIEUnleash the dark and delirious with this electrifying anthology of folk horror from some of Britain's most iconic working-class voicesA phonograph cylinder that plays on a loop for eternity, casting out ghostly spectres of violence; a centuries-old stew made of severed body parts; a bigoted woman working at an ossuary, the bones she watches over her only remaining friends; three siblings who set out to scatter their father's ashes, a man none of them could stand; and a hag stone sitting in the pocket of a witch.Uncanny and unsettling, wild and wyrd, the ten stories in this collection showcase the best of folk horror. Set in and across England, they celebrate working-class culture and history, and, sharp as a guillotine blade, reveal the real monsters that stalk our green and pleasant land.Includes writing from: A.K. Blakemore, Daniel Draper, Emma Glass, Mark Colbourne, Mark Stafford, Hollie Starling, Jenn Ashworth, Natasha Carthew, Salena Godden and Tom Benn.'Deeply unsettling and totally radical' LALLY MACBETH, author of The Lost Folk'Everything folk tales and folk horror should be' TABITHA STANMORE, author of Cunning Folk'Feral and furious' CHARLIE COOPER, star of THIS COUNTRY

It was the last of the ebbing days, the brink of the new season. It was the murky hours, the clove between sunset and sunrise. It was a tall tree with deep roots and it had been bleeding for a long while.As summer falls into autumn, Hollie Starling is hit by the heart-stopping news that her father has died by suicide. Thrust into a state of 'grief on hard mode', Hollie feels underserved by current attitudes toward grief and so seeks another way through the dark.Following her first year without her father, Hollie embraces her lifelong interest in folklore and turns to the healing power of nature, the changing seasons and the rituals of ancient communities. The Bleeding Tree is an unflinching year-zero guidebook to grief that shows us that by looking back to past traditions of bereavement we can all find our own way forward.'Starling's account of family life is riveting and narrated with grace and honesty, counterpointing the personal with the mythic.' - Irish Times

'A masterful collection' MAXINE PEAKE'Astonishing and long overdue, you really need to read this’ ALAN MOORE'An absolute treat' ADAM S. LESLIEUnleash the dark and delirious with this electrifying anthology of folk horror from some of Britain's most iconic working-class voicesA phonograph cylinder that plays on a loop for eternity, casting out ghostly spectres of violence; a centuries-old stew made of severed body parts; a bigoted woman working at an ossuary, the bones she watches over her only remaining friends; three siblings who set out to scatter their father's ashes, a man none of them could stand; and a hag stone sitting in the pocket of a witch.Uncanny and unsettling, wild and wyrd, the ten stories in this collection showcase the best of folk horror. Set in and across England, they celebrate working-class culture and history, and, sharp as a guillotine blade, reveal the real monsters that stalk our green and pleasant land.Includes writing from: A.K. Blakemore, Daniel Draper, Emma Glass, Mark Colbourne, Mark Stafford, Hollie Starling, Jenn Ashworth, Natasha Carthew, Salena Godden and Tom Benn.'Deeply unsettling and totally radical' LALLY MACBETH, author of The Lost Folk'Everything folk tales and folk horror should be' TABITHA STANMORE, author of Cunning Folk'Feral and furious' CHARLIE COOPER, star of THIS COUNTRY

Brought to you by Penguin.Unleash the dark and delirious with this electrifying anthology of folk horror from some of Britain's most iconic working-class voicesA phonograph cylinder that plays on a loop for eternity, casting out ghostly spectres of violence; a centuries-old stew made of severed body parts; a bigoted woman working at an ossuary, the bones she watches over her only remaining friends; three siblings who set out to scatter their father's ashes, a man none of them could stand; and a hag stone sitting in the pocket of a witch.Uncanny and unsettling, wild and wyrd, the ten stories in this collection showcase the best of folk horror. Set in and across England, they celebrate working-class culture and history, and, sharp as a guillotine blade, reveal the real monsters that stalk our green and pleasant land.Includes writing from: A.K. Blakemore, Daniel Draper, Emma Glass, Mark Colbourne, Mark Stafford, Hollie Starling, Jenn Ashworth, Natasha Carthew, Salena Godden and Tom Benn.'A masterful collection' MAXINE PEAKE'Astonishing and long overdue, you really need to read this' ALAN MOORE'An absolute treat' ADAM S. LESLIE(c) Hollie Starling 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025