Tales of the uncanny from a master of ambiguity

Pulse Cynan Jones (Granta, £14.99) Saints Tim MacGabhann ...

SARAH DITUM

STAY still,” a strong, male voice commanded from the gloom. The autumn sun was setting on Wildwood Cottage, silhouetting its undulating structure dramatically against a charcoal and orange sky. “Well,

There is a lot of pressure on the first line of a book. I imagine most authors want to be as quotable as Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley or It was the day my grandmother exploded. You may neve

ONE OF THE MOST GRIMLY FUNNY POEMS OF the past century is Philip Larkin’s “This Be the Verse,” with its opening salvo about how our parents invariably mess us up. Larkin used a saltier word for “mess,