Curiosity brought me to this book. In particular, I was curious about whether a story written in the early fifteenth century would stand up to modern day expectations of a ghost story. I also wondered about the ‘translation’ of the book – not only from the original Latin in the 1920s but what Dan Jones would bring to the retelling. Finally, I wanted to know whether it would be entertaining, or more a curio of literature from the past.
To answer my questions – it meets some of the expectations for a modern audience and Dan Jones has done a good job of making it entertaining and coherent.
The story is about a tailor, Snowball, who is travelling home between Gilling and Ampleforth on a dark and cold night. His journey is interrupted when he is knocked off his horse by a raven which then becomes a dog and sets him a challenge. He is tasked with seeking absolution from a priest and returning to the road – and failure will have desperate consequences.
For modern audiences, the principle of a raven and a spirit dog being scary might seem unlikely and far-fetched. However, Jones has presented these elements of the tale well – the raven is grotesque with broken wings, yet able to launch a violent attack on Snowball. The dog is horrific, described in terms of blood puddings, rotten meat and maggots churning in a brantub. It’s gruesome and deeply unsettling – even, I think, to a reader used to 21st century horror films. I’m not sure which bits of description are by Dan Jones and which can be attributed to the monk who wrote the story down in the first place – not that it matters as the effect is absolutely bang on target,
Where Jones seems to have his work cut out for him is in the structuring of the story. The other elements – characters, description, setting, spirits – are fine, but the story itself is very short and ends rather abruptly. As this isn’t something Jones can fix while remaining true to the original, it is a bit of an anti-climax.
This is a very short book with an introduction by Dan Jones (interesting), the story itself, a history of Byland Abbey (where the story was written – again, interesting) and the text in the original Latin (less interesting as I don’t have a clue where to start with it, although there are a few English notes that are illuminating).
Overall, I think this is a lively retelling of an old story – a story that perhaps doesn’t meet our expectations in terms of narrative structure, but is vivid and absorbing nevertheless. It’s a worthy addition to a canon of ghost stories from throughout the ages and I’m glad Dan Jones has brought this to the attention of a modern reader.
Thanks to NetGalley for granting me access to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
If you’d like a copy of this book, please use my affiliate link below. Thanks for supporting my blog with any purchases.
Header photo by Mark Timberlake on Unsplash
