A ballad is a song that tells a story and many traditional British ballads contain fascinating stories – tales of love and jealousy, murder and mystery, the supernatural and the historical. This anthology brings together nineteen original retellings in short story form, written by some of the country's most accomplished storytellers, singers and wordsmiths. Here you will find tales of crossdressing heroines, lusty pirates, vengeful fairy queens, mobsters and monsters, mermaids and starmen – stories that dance with the form and flavour of these narrative folksongs in daring and delightful ways. Richly illustrated, these enchanting tales will appeal to lovers of folk music, storytelling and rattling yarns. THE EDITOR: Kevan Manwaring is a writer, teacher and storyteller who lives in the Cotswold town of Stroud. Holder of an MA in the Teaching and Practice of Creative Writing from Cardiff University, he teaches creative writing for the Open University and the Skyros Writers' Lab. He also runs freelance courses in storytelling and has appeared in numerous shows both solo and with Fire Springs in Britain and abroad. His work includes two collections of folk tales for The History Press. SELLING POINTS: . New tales from eighteen of the country's most noted storytellers and folk musicians, including Kirsty Hartsiotis, Anthony Nanson, David Phelps, Eric Maddern, Pete Castle, Richard Selby, Chantelle Smith and Chrissy Derbyshire . Foreword by Candia McKormack, Deputy Editor at Cotswold Life . Illustrated with 25 original lineart drawings . The History Press is the premier contemporary resource for British folk tales . In association with the Society for Storytelling 25 b/w illustrations