What’s it like to grow up in a commune?
Come and ask this author on Wednesday night
In the late seventies, six-year-old Susanna Crossman moved with her mother and siblings from a suburban terrace to a crumbling mansion deep in the English countryside. They would share their new home with over 50 other residents from all over the world, armed with worn paperbacks on ecology, Marx and radical feminism, drawn together by utopian dreams of remaking the world. They did not leave for fifteen years.
This Wednesday evening, Crossman joins us to discuss her childhood growing up in a commune, which is the subject of her new memoir, Home is Where We Start.
Do join us at Backstory at 7.30pm on Wednesday. Tickets are still available.
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I’m far too easily frightened to write a Halloween-themed email about spooky books. So this week’s newsletter is brought to you by fellow (but braver) scaredy-cat, Sally, the newest member of the Backstory team:
As an anxious person, I go through life very much at the whim of the atmosphere: A suddenly cold room, a minor low slow note on a violin, anything that alerts me to what I should be (will be) feeling next.
At school I had to study To Kill A Mockingbird and yet because the neighbouring class was reading The Woman in Black I still remember several sleepless nights in my grandparent’s spare room convinced that between the wardrobe and the window was a lady in Victorian garb perched on the suitcases — even though, crucially, I had not (and have not) read it.
This is a long-winded way of saying that I am an absolute wimp. So you should bear that in mind.
And yet, I can’t help myself. The idea of ghosts and the other world continues to draw me in. Most of my favourite books have some element of creepiness.
One of my favourite authors, Hilary Mantel, is obsessed with ghosts and the world beyond — her memoir is called Giving Up the Ghost. Beyond Black is Mantel’s most overtly spooky book, following a medium who knows all too much about the other side. (I haven’t read it but I did listen to a podcast about it and then didn’t sleep so I think it counts.)
One of the reasons I love Wolf Hall is the ensemble cast of ghosts Cromwell carries with him. They visit him and judge him, their presence ever looming. They can be a comfort, but the past weighs heavy and finds a way of creeping in.
In stories I am always interested in how a family dynamic repeats and repeats itself no matter how a protagonist may try and escape. Ghosts are so often representatives of that past, that hidden thing that must come to light. (Note to all budding writers: I am convinced that a nice friendly ghost would also do the trick, ok great thanks.) Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery works this way. You may have come across The Haunting of Hill House but her short stories are really worth a read.
For atmosphere, no one does it quite like Olga Tokarczuk. Just thinking about Drive Your Plow Over The Bones of the Dead (extra points for spooky title) makes me feel so cold. The tale of an older woman out in the snowy mountains, nothing seems to warm up this mystery. The unnerving atmosphere carries right through to the narrator's voice… can you even trust the only thing you have to hold onto? Her new book The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story is out now to ruin any winter spa weekends you have planned.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy barely counts as a spooky book, but I’ll never miss an opportunity to recommend it. It is full of dread and emptiness and true fear and really is grim, playing on all your senses. It’s one of my all-time favourites.
Daphne du Maurier is a master of horror, and Rebecca is full of dread and emptiness, as well as compelling relationships. Manderley first appears to us in a nightmare and remains nightmarish. It’s so clear in my mind, like the house on fire in Jane Eyre. Read du Maurier’s collection Don’t Look Now and other stories for more creeping horror. Or, in a similar vein, The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter.
One argument is that we engage with this kind of fiction to feel safe, as our lives are so different and we know that we WOULD NOT MOVE TOWARDS THE NOISE. However, as a scaredy cat, I find these books only give me more things to be anxious about. I will see them only as cautionary tales to read but once a year.
Finally, some honourable mentions to books that genuinely made me scared:
Death in Her Hands — Ottessa Moshfegh
Something about older women out in the wilderness alone is just scary. If you haven’t read Moshfegh beyond My Year of Rest and Relaxation, I’d also really recommend Eileen — there’s something truly gross about it.
The Bell Jar — Sylvia Plath
Scary in its own way. Don’t be a woman. Slept with the light on thinking about the asylum.
Lord of the Flies — William Golding
Children. Are. Scary.
-Sally
Event announcement
Dan Keeling at Backstory - Wednesday 4 December, 7:30 PM
When our friends at Noble Rot announced that co-founder and editor Dan Keeling was coming out with a book, we were of course eager to get him down to Backstory. And so we have! Who’s Afraid of Romanee-Conti is a no-fuss wine guide for novices and wine enthusiasts alike. As he visits renowned vineyards all across the world, Keeling questions why some wines seem to matter more than others, all while offering personal recommendations and insights into the winemaking process.
Upcoming events
30 October, 7.30pm Susanna Crossman, Home is Where We Start
5 November, 7.30pm Ned Palmer, A Cheesemonger’s Tour de France
Following up on his book about the history of British cheese, cheesemonger Ned Palmer sets his sights abroad to explore the cheese of France: its history, identity and landscape. We’re thrilled to welcome him to Backstory to hear about his journey around France’s cheese regions, meeting the remarkable cheesemongers who carry the torch for France’s oldest and most treasured traditions. A sample of French cheese will be included in the ticket.
6 November, 7.30pm Andrew O’Hagan, Caledonian Road SOLD OUT
8 November, 6 for 7pm Winter Session 1: Jack Mac 1st music night of the season
13 November, 7.30pm Madhumita Murgia, Code Dependent
Come out to Backstory to hear the AI Editor at the Financial Times, Madhumita Murgia, discuss the new technology that’s changing our world. Through the voices of ordinary people in places far removed from Silicon Valley, Code Dependent explores the impact of a set of powerful, flawed, and often exploitative technologies on individuals, communities, and our wider society.
20 November, 7.30pm Jonn Elledge, A History of the World in 47 Borders
People have been drawing lines on maps for as long as there have been maps to draw on. By telling the stories of these borders, we can learn a lot about how political identities are shaped, why the world looks the way it does — and about the scale of human folly.
22 November, 6 for 7pm Winter Session 2: Alex Cambridge
28 November, 7.30pm Tim Shipman, Out SOLD OUT
6 December, 6 for 7pm Winter Session 3: HerOrangeCoat
20 December, 6 for 7pm Winter Session 4: Average Ginger
The Backstory chart
Click on the links to order any of these books from our website with free UK delivery
Hardback
Intermezzo by Sally Rooney Megan loves this book about two brilliant brothers, a treat for people who know a thing or two about chess, weird siblings, grief, and thinking deep thoughts but sometimes struggling to express them to the people you love the most.
There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak
The story of one lost poem, two great rivers and three remarkable lives - all connected by a single drop of water.
Women Living Deliciously by Florence Given A joyful and empowering celebration of women and self-love.
Want by Gillian Anderson The actress collects and introduces the anonymous fantasies of women from around the world.
What I Ate in a Year by Stanley Tucci Everyone’s favourite home cook/actor/martini maker Stanley Tucci presents a compelling look at his year in eating: a joy from beginning to end, though it will make you hungry…
Paperback
Butter by Asako Yukuzi Still going strong.
Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano Denise loved this book, an homage to Little Women set in Chicago.
Orbital by Samantha Harvey A luminous novel about six astronauts orbiting the Earth and observing its beauty and fragility. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize.
Kala by Colin Walsh One of my favourite books of last year. A dark, twisty tale of friendship and suspicion set on the Irish coast.
Held by Anne Michaels Also shortlisted for the Booker, this one’s a wide-sweeping, generational novel starting at the end of the first world war.
Join our club
Want to have more Backstory in your life? Why not:
Join our fiction or non-fiction book clubs, which meet every month on Zoom with each book’s author. We’ve heard from winners of the Pulitzer, Nobel and Women’s prizes, and big names like Patrick Radden Keefe, Caleb Azumah Nelson and Christina Lamb. Join for £15 a month or come to a one-off session for £16.
Take out a Backstory book subscription, tailored to each individual recipient. These start from £60 for three months (or £45 for kids) and make brilliant presents.
There are three that you mention: The Road, The Bell Jar, and Lord of the Flies. They may not be in the category of horror, but they stick to your ribs more than some stories in that category.