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Ghostland

In Search of a Haunted Country

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Ghostland

By: Edward Parnell
Narrated by: Sam Woolf
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£5.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends on 5 July 2026 at 11:59 BST. Cancel monthly.

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‘A uniquely strange and wonderful work of literature’ Philip Hoare

‘An exciting new voice’ Mark Cocker, author of Crow Country

In his late thirties, Edward Parnell found himself trapped in the recurring nightmare of a family tragedy. For comfort, he turned to his bookshelves, back to the ghost stories that obsessed him as a boy, and to the writers through the ages who have attempted to confront what comes after death.

In Ghostland, Parnell goes in search of the ‘sequestered places’ of the British Isles, our lonely moors, our moss-covered cemeteries, our stark shores and our folkloric woodlands. He explores how these landscapes conjured and shaped a kaleidoscopic spectrum of literature and cinema, from the ghost stories and weird fiction of M. R. James, Arthur Machen and Algernon Blackwood to the children’s fantasy novels of Alan Garner and Susan Cooper; from W. G. Sebald’s The Rings of Saturn and Graham Swift’s Waterland to the archetypal ‘folk horror’ film The Wicker Man…

Ghostland is Parnell’s moving exploration of what has haunted our writers and artists – and what is haunting him. It is a unique and elegiac meditation on grief, memory and longing, and of the redemptive power of stories and nature.

 Art & Literature Authors Cultural & Regional Ghosts Grief & Loss Horror Nature & Ecology Outdoors & Nature Personal Development Relationships Science Grief Fantasy Scary Heartfelt Inspiring Thought-Provoking Emotionally Gripping
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Critic reviews

‘Ghostland is a delicious, creepy, gothic gazetteer to a British landscape filled with folkloric, literary and filmic spirits, avian auguries, and natural history and a deeply touching personal grief that speaks to the hauntedness of childhood memory and teenage dreams. Obsessive, possessive, nostalgic, an act of vivid retrieval – this is a uniquely strange and wonderful work of literature’ Philip Hoare
‘Psychogeography at is finest, Ghostland is a personal meditation on the primal power of the British landscape to shape literature, film and television that tunes into the core collective experience of the Haunted Generation’ Cathi Unsworth, author of Weirdo
‘Part memoir of family to two parts brilliant excursion into folk-horror darkness and literary nooks and crannies’ Roger Clarke, author of A Natural History of Ghosts
‘Ghostland is both haunting and entertaining, echoing with an enthusiast’s love for that which is out of kilter with the everyday; things not quite right glimpsed from the corner of the eye’ Stuart Maconie, Mail on Sunday
‘A marvellous blend of travel writing, history and grief memoir, Ghostland provides not only a seance with the author’s lost family, but also a premonition of his dazzling literary future’ Paul Willetts, author of Members Only, filmed as The Look of Love
‘A skilful and intriguing weaving together, less of haunted houses as of haunted people, including MR James, Alan Garner, W G Sebald and the author himself, in places where the past has left its mark’ George Szirtes, author of The Photographer at Sixteen
‘His is a wonderfully evocative book, creating a sense of place and invoking the power of literature and nature.’ The Guardian
‘Throughout this impeccably researched book, there is…a fascination with figures in a landscape glimpsed out of the corner of the eye.’ Literary Review
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Narration was excellent, I assumed the author had narrated as there was such emotion in the reading. Not what I expected at all in terms of the autobiography framed with ghost stories. I was teary at a few points and have great admiration for the author who has had so many blows in life that I’m sure most would struggle to process at all let alone be able to write so eloquently about.

Excellent story telling and analysis

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Beautiful, moving and full of references to films and stories both familiar and yet to be discovered. I was drawn in by the subject matter and wonderful Richard Wells illustration on the cover. What I got was much more than I bargained for. Just finished listening in unexpected tears. But it’s a hopeful book and one full of delight taken in uncanny stories and images.

Beautiful, moving and full of references

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Loved this audio book, think I'll buy the reading version now. Always interested in ghostly stories and movies, it was fascinating to hear about the background to the writing and the geography of the mise en scene of the action. The stories of the author's experiences growing up was very interesting and at times quite moving. Very well read and paced by the narrator. Thoroughly recommended enjoyable listening, I shall certainly listen to this again. :-)

A really enjoyable listen.

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This book made me reflect on my own life as well as my thoughts on British weird, horror and fantasy fiction. It’s a beautiful memoir and exploration of Britain.

A truly unique book, and one I will come back to.

A wonderful personal history of a British literary tradition

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I didn't really know what to expect with this book. I've not read anything else like it, and that's okay, although I have heard some podcasts that take a similar approach.
It's a reminiscence of ghost stories, horror films, and those "I can't believe they made these for kids" public information films. (A girl visiting a farm unknowingly drinks paraquat from a lemonade bottle, among other horrors.)
It's also a reminiscence of family, including family tragedy.
I was swept up in it. I felt sad when there were only a couple of hours left in the book.
I found myself smiling in recognition at the mention of about three quarters of the stories mentioned - and I found myself seeking out copies of some of the others.
Very enjoyable, but heartbreaking in places.

Unusual and special

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