Ballad Tales

Ballad Tales gathers 19 prose retellings of traditional British ballads, turning narrative songs into compact folk tales. The source material ranges from Tam Lin and Thomas the Rhymer to Barbara Allen, The Grey Selkie of Sule Skerry and The Laidly Worm of Spindlestone Heugh.

Across the anthology, contributors recast stories of enchanted transformations, divided lovers, sea-bound peril, witchcraft, murder and hard-won survival. Kevan Manwaring introduces the collection and retells The Twa Magicians, while Candia McKormack provides the foreword. Other adaptations draw on The Cruel Ship’s Carpenter, Sovay, The Famous Flower of Serving Men, Scarborough Fair and The Twa Sisters, bringing familiar ballad narratives into fresh prose forms without losing their folkloric darkness.