Cover image by R.B. Russell.
"Make the reader think the evil, make him think it for himself..." - Henry James
This first collection of tales by Rosalie Parker contains eight stories that explore the uncanny in the modern world. As Glen Cavaliero observes in
his introduction, "like all good stories of the preternatural, these in
The Old Knowledge have a subversive effect." In them, "the world of
logical, predictable reality is seen to be at risk from rejected modes
of knowledge which can thwart the materialist and victimise those
innocents who stumble into another order of reality."
In "The
Rain", Geraldine heads to the North for a holiday she hopes will provide a welcome break from her busy city life, only to suffer a complicated
and enigmatic distortion of her usual world-view. The narrator of "In
the Garden" strays into new pastures while explaining her theory of
gardening. In "Chanctonbury Ring", the well-meaning protagonist, helping a lady in distress, gets rather more than he bargained for. The
temporary schoolteacher in "The Supply-Teacher" elicits altruism from
her class, whilst, in "The Old Knowledge", a group of archaeologists
called in to excavate a prehistoric round barrow have to negotiate local interventions. In "The Cook's Story" a Gothic country house provides
the setting for a modern tale of mystery.
Do not expect
blood-and-guts, wraiths or revenants: these stories hold a different
kind of terror. "Their unostentatious magic is of an insidious kind; and like the protagonist of the title story, is liable to exert itself in
disconcerting ways."
Contents:
- Introduction by Glen Cavaliero
- The Rain
- Spirit Solutions
- Chanctonbury Ring
- The Supply Teacher
- The Old Knowledge
- The Cook's Story
- The Picture
- In the Garden
- Acknowledgements
