Salisbury Chris. Folk Tales of the Night

The History Press, 2023. — 190 p.Foreword
This is treasure, what you have in your hands. A University of Life, all of itself. There’s a wily genius throughout these stories that tell us about how to live, to encounter challenge, even to bless. Chris Salisbury’s been a storyteller since Noah was a boy (or getting on for thirty years), and I’ve delighted in his tales in almost every kind of setting: from under a majestic beech at mid-summer to the wires and lights of a modern theatre. The thing that stays unchanged in all these landscapes is the rapt look in the gaze of the listeners. They are off on some kind of magic carpet ride. Don’t wait up.I’m especially pleased there’s a section on ghost stories. Chris is the finest teller of ghost stories I’ve come across. He never hurries but waits till the fire is down to the embers, waits till the candle is casting odd shadows on the cottage wall. Then, maybe, he’ll begin. Some of his favourites are in this book. It’s always a furtive walk back to the tent after Chris’s storytelling. Who knows who’s peering in from the woods?These beautiful stories are a bundle of stars that light up not just the darkness of the night but the darkness within us, within our culture. I would suggest taking one story a week and making it your teacher. They’re robust, they have nuance, they have something to tell you. And never hear a story and think it not your duty to pass it on.Folk Tales of the Night is a book curated by a man that loves his craft. You can feel it within the words and you can trust it. These stories don’t just live on his laptop, but out there amongst starlings, curling rivers, winding smoke, and the jubilant look in his kiddie’s eyes as they say, again, again!Martin Shaw