Endorsements
BRUNT BOGGART
A Tapestry of Tales
"In Brunt Boggart, David Greygoose conjures a rich, primordial dreamtime from sullen hedgerows and fields... a wonderful excavation of the story traditions that our ancestors huddled around for warmth, and highly recommended."
ALAN MOORE
“These are utterly wonderful new-old tales. In his bones, David Greygoose understands the rhythms of great storytelling, with its incantations, repetitions, knowing asides and snappy dialogue, and he has a frankly marvellous ear for the music of language. This tapestry is inventive and witty, dramatic and moving, and deeply earthed in the superstitions and folk beliefs of old England. Now that I’ve stepped into Brunt Boggart, I know that part of me will never leave it.”
KEVIN CROSSLEY-HOLLAND
“David Greygoose is a master-storyteller, creating the visceral netherworld that is Brunt Boggart. Greygoose draws deeply on the riches of Britain’s folklore to conjure up dark and whimsical tales of an imagined village. I found myself lost in the wildflower meadows, mossy hollows and wolf pits of Brunt Boggart.”
EMILY PORTMAN
“Brunt Boggart is a skilfully crafted collection of timeless tales which connects the reader on a visceral level. Each is as true a tale as ever was told. Just as a great sculptor sees the divine form within the slab of granite, Greygoose has stripped away all that is extraneous exposing the primal folk-tales which lay buried in us all.”
JOHN REPPION
“It tastes fabulously medieval, it smells uncanny, it looks like the roots of half-forgotten herbs, and it sounds like verbs of thunder and earth.”
JAY GRIFFITHS
"A fascinating book by a storyteller immersed in the dark folktales of another time."
BRIAN PATTEN
“Brunt Boggart is a totally unique and entrancing book… a carnival cavalcade of misfit performers tumbling over and over… troubadour-tellings that take one step beyond imagining… to be recited in the darkest midwinter around a log-fire where sparks dance and pirouette in captured constellations… as loaded with dream-stuff as the golden-brown poppy seed… these are stories with the moon in their eyes and the wind in their hair.”
ANDREW DARLINGTON
For the full blog, please visit:
http://andrewdarlington.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/new-book-brunt-boggart-tapestry-of-tales.html
"Real storytelling stuff – a bit like coming across a newly-written Odyssey.
The language is inventive but also direct. Its rhythms feel like those of spoken language. Names for things and people sound folkloric but freshly coined. What characters say is idiomatic and spicy. Places and landscapes give the sense of being familiar, as if they’ve always been there.
If the people in Brunt Boggart are idiosyncratic, the people on The Pedlar Man’s Track are magical, capable of transforming into all kinds of otherness. Arleccra turns out to be a place of unending suffering and endless dreams.
It felt clear that what we’d had to find was not an answer to the quest, but real life. We had to come back to ourselves."
MARY MEDLICOTT
Storyworks Blog
For the full blog, please visit:
http://www.storyworks.org.uk/wordpress/storytelling-starters-brunt-boggart/
"Folklore and nature collide in Brunt Boggart. Greygoose's inventive language makes these tales a joy to read aloud - in true storyteller style."
ANTONIA CHARLESWORTH
The Big Issue in The North
"This is a strange and beautiful book... Beyond the dreams and the striving, the story seems to say, we can reach the peace of having returned into our true selves."
THE SCHOOL LIBRARIAN
"Brunt Boggart is a beautifully written lyrical novel by a master of language. Rich in imagery and poetic in style, it captivates from the first haunting words and never lets go its hold until the last magical lines. Let me tell you, this is a book once read, never forgotten."
THE FAMULUS
"Brunt Boggart will inspire future generations of writers."
JOHN GRIFF
BBC Radio Northampton
"[A] many faceted, finely crafted and genuinely enjoyable book… a piece of work that can be enjoyed equally by aficionados of fantasy, of folk horror and of fairy tale and folklore"
GREY MALKIN
MoofMag
for the full review please go to: https://moofmag.com/2018/11/15/book-review-brunt-boggart-by-david-greygoose/
An exceptional book, truly original and startling.
Greygoose's prose is unique, with more than a passing nod to Dylan Thomas' 'Under Milk
Wood'. All manner of strange and wonderful characters clutter the twilit pages, glimmering in
the dark world of Brunt Boggart.
Strange and clandestine folkloric rites are practiced in the fields, odd characters slip and scuttle
between chapter and page.
It is a tapestry, heavy woven with rich spangling threads, and embellished with wondrous gee-
gaws and trinkets… surreal dreamscapes, wonderful dream snippets and glimpses into a quasi
medieval past.
More comments
"... a truly mesmerising rhythm and I loved the linguistic quirks. Despite its obviously folkloric roots I found myself making connections between the ideas and more contemporary themes."
ALEX McFADYEN
"The tales burst with a lusty muscular energy... a combination of Neil Gaiman's comicbooks and the work of Christina Rossetti. The density of images and description felt pure gluttony - in a good way!"
THOMAS KWEI
“I was transported to a mysterious new world. The text is beautiful and the music and film compliment it perfectly. The effect is mesmerizing… an impressive achievement.”
REGAN SHAW Kaleidoscope Magazine
on Brunt Boggart launch at the Bluecoat, Liverpool: 13th May 2015
"Thank you for the wonder that is Brunt Boggart. It calls to be told aloud... and it has such a strong presence which pulls me in. Beautiful language and ideas..."
RIMA STAINES
"Brunt Boggart takes you into a world of imagination which has its own rules and its own reality - magical and strange."
FREDA DAVIS
"Folk-lorey, fantastical and glorious..."
NICOLA GILROY
BBC Radio Lincolnshire
"... a tantalising world of possibilities and mysteries, offbeat characters and strange landscapes."
WALTER DAIN
“The brilliant creative imagination of the author powerfully transports the reader to a marvellously crafted other place and time. The wonderful style, blending the oral and written storytelling traditions, lyrical prose and vivid descriptions, is so resonant of the classic folk tale genre."
STEVE HIRD: former Editor of The School Librarian
“Brunt Boggart is enchanting. The writing is at all times beguiling. Greygoose creates a village, a people, a thick atmosphere that surrounds you like a fog… and a thoroughly Anglo-European folksy tradition that never truly was.”
DAN FITT-PALMER The Student Review
School comments
LIVERPOOL BLUE COAT SCHOOL: Yr8
“Intriguing and magical… the language is very descriptive and I could easily imagine it in my head.”
KAYLEIGH
“I like the characters – all of their names are very original and different. The plot is extremely imaginative and every detail is very well thought out, so much so that it’s hard to imagine that it’s actually fiction. The wide range of language creates such a clear image of everything in your head – especially the woods.”
ELLIE
“I’d never read anything like it before. “
OLIVIA
“The characters were really unusual, especially their names – they were unique.”
QIU QIN
“I was engrossed and absorbed in the intensity.”
JAMES
“I never guessed what would happen at the end. It made me think about how you can feel so strongly about something that might not exist.”
ALIYA
(ON THE FILM)
“The film is eerie and dark. I liked the short, quick shots…”
LEWIS
“It’s very tense, but the music and the images create a relaxing scene.”
SIMRAN
“The music contributed more than anything to the peaceful relaxing atmosphere.”
ED
“The music helped give the story an eerie feel and set the time for it. It also gave emphasis to the tense moments where there was no music.”
KIMERLEY
“Sometimes the style made it feel as if you were the character.”
JOYCE
RIDGEWAY HIGH SCHOOL Yr7
“The world needs more books which are set in the past so kids my age can learn more!”
ELIJAH
“You begin to understand their way of life. It sounds like the sort of thing that kids would do… I really liked the music – I wish I could listen to it all the time. It made me feel as if I was really there.”
ROWAN
“The plot had a lot of twists that made sense by the end. It inspired me to write what I really want to write - not what other people want me to write.”
CHERYN
BIRKENHEAD PARK SCHOOL Yr7
“I liked the language because it used lots of amazing words.”
BARTEK
“The music was spooky and slow. I thought it was fantastic.”
CHLOE
“I was hooked!”
ABERGAIL
ARCHBISHOP BLANCH HIGH SCHOOL, LIVERPOOL: Yr 8
“The names are really inventive which shows originality straight away – and it gives the book a cool folklore feel.”
BETH
“This book is great and the detail of the characters is amazing.”
CHLOE
“The style was different from anything I’ve ever read before – it’s out of my usual genre of reading.”
SHANNON
“It made me feel like I was there in the town of Brunt Boggart. I’m in love with it!”
CHARLOTTE
“Very detailed language that kids our age can understand.”
MAYA
“The plot was different from other stories – and I liked that it was nothing like anything I had ever read before.”
NIAMH
GREENBANK HIGH SCHOOL
"A fascinating, tantalising set of tales... the medieval folklore of a magical and dreamful town... the theme of love and friendship covers all the stories and every line.
Each story is a part of you - how long a character sleeps is how long you long to read more.
This is a book that helps you escape from everything around you and invites you into a dream of stars and serpents."
TAYA Yr11
The Pedlar Man's Track