Short stories
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Nightmare: Two Ghostly Tales brings together two of my most popular ghost stories, Nightmare and Ghost Galleon.
See its page to find out more.
Classic Fairy Tales is a much-loved re-telling of some of the most popular fairy tales in the world, beautifully illustrated by Jane Ray.
See its page to find out more.
Berlie Doherty is a superb writer. Her great forte is the tangle of relationships we build, threaten and sometimes destroy in our daily life. Delicate prose and sensitive, believable dialogue combine to create powerful multi-generational narratives which linger long after the story ends.
Times Educational Supplement
Running on Ice
It was this: a horse trapped in the ice; a great black horse.
Collected stories by Berlie Doherty, 1997
Contents:
- Owls Are Night Birds (first published in Streets Ahead, Methuen, 1989)
- Ghost Galleon (first published in Cold Feet, Hodder and Stoughton, 1985)
- Shrove Tuesday (first published in Mother’s Day, Methuen, 1992)
- Casting Off (first published in Women and Home as Mam’s Day Out, 1996)
- Summer of Ladybirds (first published in Summer of Ladybirds, Methuen, 1987)
- Sweet Caroline (first published in Heart to Heart, Mammoth, 1996)
- Hurry Please (first published in Ghostly Haunts, Pavilion Books, 1994)
- Nightmare (first published in Beware, Beware, Hamish Hamilton, 1987)
Some of these stories have also been broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Ghost Galleon and Nightmare are now published together as Nightmare: Two Ghostly Tales.
Sadly, Running on Ice is no longer available, although you may be able to find secondhand copies on Amazon or elsewhere.
Thank heavens for the new compact paperback edition of Berlie Doherty’s wonderful gathering of story poems.
The Scotsman
The Forsaken Merman
Selected by Berlie Doherty. Illustrated by Nick Maland.
Contains many familiar poems such as Albert and the Lion, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, The Wreck of the Hesperus, and lots of story poem surprises.
Sadly, The Forsaken Merman is no longer available, although you may be able to find secondhand copies on Amazon or elsewhere.
An attractive reminder of the power, variety and emotional range of narrative verse.
Books For Keeps
Retellings of short stories
Fairy Tales, illustrated by Jane Ray. Walker Books. See my Classic Fairy Tales page for full details.
Anthologies of short stories
Tales of Wonder and Magic, illustrated by Juan Wijngaard. Walker Books. See my Tales of Wonder and Magic page for full details.
My other short stories
The following is a selection of some of my other short stories and where they can be found:
- Someone Like the Snow Queen in Winter Magic, ed. Abi Elphinstone, Simon & Schuster 2016
- Crossing the Glacier in Watch and Wait, Cybermouse Books, 2014
- Sky Dancer in War Girls, Andersen Press, 2014
- The Little Ship’s Boy in Haunted, Andersen Press, 2011. ISBN 9781849393218 (This is also available as an audio book, exclusively from Audible.)
- Strawberry Wine, an extract, in In the Frame, edited by Rowena Edlin-White and published by Five Leaves Publications, 2006. ISBN 1-905512-09-0
- The Ghost House in Children in Need Story Collection, BBC, 2002
- The Puppet Show in Ten of the Best, ed. Wendy Cooling, Collins, 2002
- The Girl of Silver Lake in Mirrors, ed. Wendy Cooling, Collins, 2001
- Goodbye to Yonkers in Daily Telegraph Book of Contemporary Short Stories, 1995
- The Dragonosaurus in Ip Dip Sky Blue ed. Mary Hoffman, Collins Lions, 1992
- The Boy in the Garden in Best Friends ed. June Crebbin, Dent, 1990
- The Girl Who Couldn’t Walk in Tales of Wonder and Magic ed. Berlie Doherty, Walker Books
- PJ in Times Educational Supplement Autobiographical Story series, 1997
- Sandboat in Round About Six Ed. Kaye Webb, Frances Lincoln, 1992