Reviewed in Facts & Fiction No. 109, May 2019: "This was a very pleasant surprise. I remember reading Mike’s History Press Folk Tales books on Hampshire and Sussex and realising how many of the places mentioned he obviously had an intimate knowledge of—he’d walked the haunted lane or climbed the hills and seen the views. This book, a novel, is an obvious development from that.
It is described as a Pilgrimage although I would have called it a Quest. It is definitely a Journey. It covers much of the same ground as the previous two books (literally) but goes on down into the West Country, Cornwall and finally over to Brittany.
It reminded me of the work of Alan Garner and Rudyard Kipling (Puck of Pookes Hill) The former because Mike is nearly as immersed in the Wealden countryside as Garner is in Cheshire, and the latter because it is very much the same environment and even some of the same images/stories—characters from a distant age appearing in this one. There is also a touch of Frankenstein!
The author himself also makes a brief appearance, in a Hitchcockian sort of way, although he tries not to interfere with the story too much!
It is a very positive use of all Mike’s knowledge of folk tales, folklore and of the countryside. And it’s a good read!
My only small criticism is that it looks a bit like a selfpublished book. (Sue accused me of being a snob!) It’s not, but it is from a small press…But it’s the content that counts, as we’ve said elsewhere."
