Uncle Montague’s Tales of Terror

Book review
Written by Chris Priestley
Bloomsbury hardback/paperback
Release date Out now (hardback); 6 October 2008 (paperback)

Young Edgar visits his Uncle Montague’s house in the woods, where he listens to a series of creepy stories …

Montague was, of course, the forename of seminal gothic horror writer M.R. James, and this book is Chris Priestley’s tongue-in-cheek homage to the author. Tales of Terror should prove popular with anyone who loved the equally gothic-tinged A Series of Unfortunate Events, but this has more of an old-fashioned gentle creepiness to it that should appeal to many adults too.

It’s more a collection of short stories than a novel, with Uncle Montague regaling his young nephew with legends and stories inspired by intriguing artefacts in his study. And so, among other tales, we hear goosebump-inspiring accounts of a boy who ignores warnings and climbs a strange tree, the daughter of a sham medium who comes across an apparent ghost, and a boy who comes to regret pinching a cursed bench-end.

The stories are lively and entertaining, though there’s nothing particularly surprising here to anyone familiar with gothic horror. The best moments come from the charming linking sequences in which Edgar attempts to stick out his jaw and persuade his Uncle that he’s “not as timid as you seem to think” – despite being quite obviously petrified. The fantastic pencil illustrations by David Roberts help bring the stories to life. James Skipp