I would like to thank Valley Press for a copy of this collection in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher – Valley press

Published – Out Now

Price - £3.99 Kindle eBook £9.99 paperback

In this collection of eerie, beautifully crafted stories, lives are lived slightly out of sync with the ordinary world. From a man who makes sock puppets to elderly Italian craftswomen and hens at a taxidermy party, family stories are seamlessly woven with folklore, journeys and natural phenomena to examine the quirks, pains and resilience of human existence…

I do love both story collections and anthologies and I think the ones that really work are those that can tell a cohesive narrative around the themes illustrating the variety of stories any subject can trigger. The short story is very hard to get right but when it does it offers so many possibilities to explore and they’re a delight to read. In Judy Darley’s fantastic collection of short stories tales, they evolve around themes of the natural world in sections relating to the Sky, Light or Rain I found it a wonderfully immersive and often surprising set of tales.

The collection includes well over thirty tales some just a few pages; while some a little longer but they’re all well-judged and varied. I liked that I never knew what type of tale would follow next and quite a few tales had a little surprise in store while I read them and had my expectations inverted. They’re not always part of fantasy and sometimes just purely human nature or the impact of the natural world on us but they’re all always with their own sense of magic to them. Darley has a beautiful sense of lyrical description and tailors the tale’s language to suit the characters; all very well-constructed and help bring the reader in. As just a taste of the tales I fell hard for are: -

Untrue Blue – a woman talks about her brother who has died; it becomes a tale of how her family evolved; the horrible experiences she has as a child and the how she found her own life and love going forward. It raises a hint of concern for her future but also a huge amount of hope. A whole life told in a few paragraphs and the language and use of fairy tales is brilliant

Weaving Wings – a great example of the flash fiction as young children who are asylum seekers in a facility hope for freedom. Optimism mixed with the cruelty of the government in two pages

Woman and Birds – A woman returns to Barcelona to meet her ex-wife and child and is sent on a trail of clues across the city to find them. The trail raises a hint of dark things to come but its more than balanced between the happier memories each clue represents which just possibly suggests a happier ending is always possible instead.

Shaped from Clay - a teacher enters a village where a strange child makes monsters in class out of plaster and everyone is warned not to go out alone at night. Capturing the feeling of someone moving to a new place and being an outsider so well but also just a nice frisson of horror as these kids may not be entirely right for their teacher.

Knotted Rope – This tale uses three character voices as a nursery find out they’re one child short after a trip to a graveyard. It pulls different perspectives; raises one of the nastiest nightmares people can have but also examines how children can react to bad situations and just possibly there is magic here too. One of my favourites in the collection.

Fascinate – a very disturbing sister has taxidermy on her hen night. A great scary way to get a sense of a very troubling person…

A Blackbird’s Heart – one of the darkest tales here where an ancient family trying to survive is mixed with a modern foster family’s secrets. The ending is chilling…

Strawberry Thief – a tale of grief, mourning and yet also a tale of love and living a life with a person you can no longer see. Heart-warming ultimately

Far from the Farm - a young girl has moved from her family farm to the city and is feeling scared and alone but postcards and presents from her Gran reminds her of home. Just a lovely sense of love and isolation.

Lamp Black – Another startling tale a woman is having a fractious relationship with her children pushing them away so she can try and do art during the holidays and then they claim they’re finally found their long-absent father. Dark; unsettling and another great tale.

Elevated Truths – a woman recounts key moments in life with her pedantic father who loved to disprove her claims. It’s a tale of a family imploding but also a reminder that we always probably will forgive our parents the most despite their annoying habits.

Lodged – a woman moves in with her boyfriend and she gets increasingly fascinated with the previous occupant; even starting to see them and this tale is moving into true horror as we see a woman brought under a ghost’s wing. Disconcerting and I loved it

The Blue Suitcase - a woman and her child come back from holiday and she decides suddenly its time to take someone else’s suitcase. Very quickly we see her unhappy life, and this is a novel of deciding to escape. I really loved this one just for that sense of release it leads to.

The Sculptor – a sculptor is building a tribute to her family but also deciding if it is time to let someone else into her life while her father now begins to forget everyone. Brilliantly bittersweet and the use of ice as a metaphor for her life is fantastic.

Reeds and Curlews – a mother and her son are taking a trip; they’ve had a narrow scary escape from tragedy, and it has a dark dark secret and yet totally understandable realisation for the mother. Nasty but so so true

Carry the Sky - a grandparent tries to make a connection to his granddaughter after a family tragedy. Using a day out and very accurately reflecting the complexity of what a teenager says and what they really want to say this again feels wonderfully true.

As we head into Winter this is a stunning story collection, I think those of you who love stories on the boundaries of the weird and the real would really enjoy. I love the care and attention that Darley has obviously placed into their work and I think it’s a collection I shall find myself getting memories of for many months.