About the Author

Lucy M. Boston (1892 - 1990) was born in Southport, Lancashire. She studied English at Oxford and served as a nurse in France, before settling in Cheshire towards the end of the First World War. After her marriage broke down in 1935 she trained as a painter in Europe, eventually returning to England on the eve of the Second World War. In 1939 she bought the eleventh century Manor in Hemingford Grey, Cambridgeshire, which was her home and literary inspiration until her death. It is the setting of her much-loved series of Green Knowe novels for children, and is now open to visitors. Robert Lloyd Parry is a performance storyteller and writer. In 2005 he began what he now refers to as "The M. R. James Project", with a solo performance of "Canon Alberic's Scrap-book" and "The Mezzotint" in James's old office in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. The Project has since encompassed five more one-man theatre shows, several films and audiobooks, two documentaries, a guided walk, and numerous magazine articles.

Reviews

"Lucy M. Boston was a first-rate storyteller. As Robert Lloyd Parry observes in his introduction, her debt to James runs deep, but she had her own unique voice." - Supernatural Tales
"Like the Green Knowe novels on which Boston's reputation is based and for which she won the Carnegie Medal, these stories appear to have been written mainly for older children or young adults. However, Boston makes few concessions to her younger readers: horror is not avoided, nor altogether survived. Her writing is straightforward, but not simple or anodyne. Horrific details are faced unflinchingly . . . " - Wormwood
"Boston's tales are written in a solid, classical narrative style, in the tradition of the great ghost story writers . . . a charming book unearthing forgotten gems and apt to delight any ghost story lover." - British Fantasy Society
"This is a very welcome publication . . . well worth reading." - Ghosts & Scholars
"This publication is an important contribution to the canon of the supernatural tale, as well as being a much deserved monument to the fascinating Lucy Boston." - A Ghostly Company