MISTS AND MEGALITHS BY CATHERINE MCCARTHY - BOOK REVIEW

10/5/2021

BOOK REVIEW MISTS AND MEGALITHS BY CATHERINE MCCARTHY

Mists and Megaliths in a collection of diverse short stories set within the landscape, culture and history of Wales. Reading this anthology I was reminded of E Nesbit’s Ghost Stories anthology and The Woman in Black by Susan Hill. McCarthy’s stories feel like modern classics. In a hundred years from now I can see people still reading them or teaching them in schools. They have that kind of timeless feel, probably because despite the fantastic elements, they deal with real people living real lives having real human fears and tragedies. Humanity as well as the Welsh setting links the stories. Despite some common themes, the stories vary greatly from one another, some are humorous, some are heart wrenchingly tragic but each one has stuck in my memory. Some more so than others and some I liked better than others.

Among my personal favourites are Two’s Company, Three’s A Shroud a humorous and horrific take on the afterlife. Retribution is a story about power and prosperity granted by the presence of an imprisoned monster. I particularly liked the ending and the stories treatment of the creature. Coblynau is a story about an elderly man and his conviction that Coblynau spirits will come for him. As with Retribution I particularly liked the ending and the representation of the Coblynau. I would also like to say that the elderly man and his care home are represented in grim realism of what I like to think of as historic bad care. I would like to add (in case anyone is in any doubt) that no one should be catheterised because of incontinence, that is what incontinence pads and convenes are for. I also really enjoyed Carreg Samson a story told from the first person voice of a million year old rock in Wale’s. It is possibly the most tragic story in the collection and the one with the most gruesome deaths. I enjoyed the concept of something watching humanity, then popping up to fuck us up when we go too far destroying the planet. I found it particularly poignant reading it as the world tries to recover from the Covid pandemic.

I would greatly recommend this anthology, all the stories are very good to excellent. They are timeless and really capture the history, myths and culture of Wales. I can see people enjoying this book for many years to come.

Review by Astrid Addams

Welcome to Wales, land of mists and megaliths, where mythical creatures and ancient spirits lurk in the strangest of places.

This collection of 10 supernatural stories offers a flurry of folklore, a gathering of ghosts, and even a cosmic cave creature.

Stories include...

Lure: A fisherman who nets the tail fin of a lure becomes obsessed with finding the rest, but what else lies hidden in the ancient lake?

Carreg Samson: A Neolithic burial chamber stares out to sea, remembering times long since past, but when it loses its heart of stone to a young girl the repercussions are hard to bear.

Coblynau: An old man watches the mountain which was once a slag heap of coal. He listens for the knock of the Coblynau, certain they will come for him... soon, just like they did to warn of the Aberfan disaster.

Author Catherine McCarthy’s second collection invites the reader on a regional journey, evoking a sense of quiet horror from the cosmic to the Gothic.