Sussex Folk Tales

These lively and entertaining folk tales from one of Britain's most ancient counties are vividly retold. Their origins lost in the oral tradition, these stories from Sussex reflect the wisdom (and eccentricities) of the county and its people. Sussex has a rich and diverse collection of tales, from the stories of dragons lurking in bottomless pits and screaming demons hiding under hills to legends of witches, wisewomen and ghosts. These stories, illustrated with original line drawings, bring alive the landscape of the county's rolling hills and dramatic coast. Mike O'Leary is a professional storyteller who has been travelling the country retelling traditional folk tales for almost twenty years.

Auteur

Professional storyteller Michael O'Leary worked as a greenkeeper in the Meon Valley before moving to Southampton as a gardener. He gained a degree in geography from Southampton University and later became a teacher, before becoming a full-time storyteller in 1994, spending the last twenty years travelling throughout Britain and Ireland and visiting schools and libraries, and storytelling festivals.

Résumé
With screaming demons in Wealdon copses and dragons lurking in bottomless ponds, the folk tales of Sussex truly represent the diversity of the area. Meet knuckers and willocks, mawkins and marsh monsters, the Piltdown Man, Lord Moon of Amberley Swamp and the princess of the Mixon Hole. There is also something terrible crawling to Crawley from Gatwick, which develops a degraded appetite in a bin From ghosts and madmen to witches and wise women, Michael O'Leary reveals many of the hidden horrors of Sussex horrors that can be found in the most beautiful places, or that lurk beneath the seemingly mundane. Amid these dark tales are stories of humour and silliness, of love, lust and passion.