Owen Davies, Ceri Houlbrook. Manchester University Press, (336p) ISBN: 9781526180384. Myths, read 12/09/25, Paperback ★★★★☆

Folklore: A Journey Through the Past and the Present

This came just as I was finishing another book and I launched straight into this looking forward to a nice light read about British folklore…

What I got instead was a masterfully researched survey of the state of folklore in the country, this was refreshing as it made me think much more than a simplified survey would.

The survey is broken down into different areas, such as Environment, Intimate Life and looks at various aspects of each area with a historic focus, determining where and when traditions were established and how widespread they were.

The influence of various folklore and historic societies are explored in how they collected (and possibly sanitised) the various folklores of the regions they were in and how these were then presented.

All fans of the folklore world should read the Introduction if nothing else. It clearly sets out what the book intended to show it also breaks down folklore and the historic representation and national expression of this into a clear and easy to understand format.

Only problem with the ARC is I now have to get the harback to add to my permanent folklore collection.

I received this from Manchester University Press in exchange for an honest review.