‘Wayland Babes’ by Judi Daykin is a book of five ghostly tales. I have read her books before but of a totally different genre, so I didn’t know what to expect when I started this book.
Thass bad. Somethin’ dreadful always happens when the chil’un be abroad.
The Wayland Woods in Norfolk – an ancient place where sound and silence, truth and myth, and life and death intertwine.
Some say that the babes of the woods still walk the Earth – wandering through the trees, forever lost, holding hands and searching for help. To see them is a terrible omen. As daylight falls, you may hear the wailing – is it the babes, or just the wind in the trees? What could it mean to see the babes, feel their presence, and be lured deeper into the woods? They look so real.
They seem so helpless and desperate.
Five tales tell of five lives touched over five centuries by the so-called babes in the wood. If they beckon, will you follow?
As I started reading I realised it is five tales, but each as a different chapter. They are stories told over five centuries and all are connected so it is more like one story than five.
This is a book I enjoyed so much. I was so immersed in these woods I made myself jumpy. The fact that it is children using their supposed innocence to lure adults was very powerful.
Judi Daykin has written an addictive, eerie book that engages you from first to last page and her skill in describing the setting creates such uneasy,creepy feelings. I was quite spooked just by the sounds of the children myself. A perfect book to pick up on these darks nights.
Thanks to Hobeck Books and Judi Daykin for the copy of this book.
sharonbeyondthebooks.uk 