Folklore

Writing a story set on the Cornish coast, I needed something about Cornish myth and legend and was lucky enough to strike pure gold. Yesterday I came across a big hardback on the bookshelves of a charity shop. Published in 1973, this is a 550 page Reader's Digest volume entitled, Folklore Myths and Legends of Britain. I started reading it last night. It is brilliantly illustrated (Blake, Dadd, Rackham, Holman Hunt); and a fantastic work of scholarship. The subject is a huge one, but this book does it justice. It was, as I've said, a very lucky find. I cracked a can of Ruddles Ale and read the chapter on Cornwall. But the book deserves to be read from cover to cover and that's a Summer treat I'm looking forward to.