Tales from the Telling-House

Four linked short stories evoke Exmoor life through a framing narrator who gathers local tales in a parsonage telling-house. The pieces range from storm-driven tragedies and quiet riverside reminiscences to romantic peril and rural mysteries, tracing losses, reckonings, and intimate scenes of everyday labor and landscape. Recurring elements include pastoral detail, folk speech, moral reflection, and the interplay of memory and storytelling; characters confront grief, mistaken aims, daring leaps for love, and the consequences of local enmities. The collection emphasizes atmosphere and regional color while presenting compact narratives that balance drama, sentiment, and gentle humor.