Kate of Clyve Shore: Three Stories (Ulverscroft Large Print Series)

Rating:
Summary: haunting, Lena Kennedy is a good storyteller
Review: There are three stories in this book, all haunting and tragic. It is well-written, Kennedy is obviously a born storyteller. Most of the stories are about love gone wrong. In KATE..Shore' Kate is a simple peasant girl who has high aspirations to become a lady of class...it turns out differently though, a tragic end. In TWO SWALLOWS (first person) this ghost tells the story of his lost love etc etc to this writer (the author). It is told simply, easy to understand not all complicated and boring. This one is very sad I thought. THE LONG SPOON is about the ghost (i think) of this witch who was burned in the 1600's. At first I thought it was one of those scenarios where she was FALSELY accused of being a witch those years ago but she really was a witch! They tried to burn at the stake in the 17th Century but she got away and jumped into a pond or something. I don't know if she actually died or not. So she reappears, I think the 60's or 70's in the story, I mean 1970 or something, so it's basically present times. And she starts killing everyone and causing all the havoc with her spells and curses, at first I thought she was so nice but My god, the story just gets weirder and weirder, I really liked it! Very gothic, witches etc. This one part in the book she's led this guy, from the bar, into the forest (she's trying to take revenge on him because his ancestors (i think) in the 1600's tried to burn her. So he's all drunk, in the forest and he think he's about to get lucky...remember this 'witch-ghost' is beautiful, blond and young. So she drops her dress she's standing there in naked splendour, can you imagine and she's teasing him and everything. She stands there dancing, with her pale skin, waving her arms above her head enticing him, she's still naked. He comes rushing for her, in lust and she dissapears (turns into a cat and runs away) and he goes over the ravine and breaks both his legs. It is good the way these three stories are so uncomplicated, as I said and they are short which I like.