A dark and disturbing tale of something that lurks in the mud

I enjoyed performing this unnerving tale of a Norfolk boy who discovers he can sense a presence lurking in the Norfolk fens, though it had a tendency to enter my dreams at night. There is a darkness to this tale from the 1970s that many younger readers have carried with them and since reading it back then, and will hopefully rediscover in this new edition. The cover Valancourt Books produced captures the tone beautifully. It is a story that lives in the shadows and hidden, forgotten places.

Returning home through a bog late one night, 16-year-old Dick Dodds passes a trail that for some reason sends a chill up his spine. He feels the same inexplicable terror the next day when he explores the trail further and meets a girl, Helen Johnson, who saw something that looked like a man with no arms or legs moving and gliding across the landscape. The mystery deepens when a local widow, Mrs Knowles, becomes convinced that something evil has emerged from the river near her house. What is the secret of the strange and terrifying mystery of the bog? And what does it have to do with a local legend of a man who died there in the reign of King John while guarding a fabulous treasure? Dick and Helen are determined to find out, but they may soon find themselves in greater danger than they ever imagined.

Originally published for teenagers, The House on the Brink (1970) has earned a reputation over the years as a classic of ghostly fiction in the M. R. James mode that will appeal to listeners old and young alike. Long out of print and scarce on the secondhand market, John Gordon’s chilling novel returns at last to haunt a new generation of listeners.

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