A. S. Byatt is one of those rare writers equally powerful as a short story writer and a novelist, both filled with her rich knowledge of culture and history. Her work isn’t very fashionable at the moment, and I think its because we live in an especially anti-art and anti- intellectual moment. Like Angela Carter, she is one I still wish was around to reflect on things. This is a retelling of the Lambton Worm legend set during the blitz of World War Two, when city children were evacuated to the countryside.
Published in The Little Black Book of Stories, Vintage, 2004; also available as a Vintage Digital single, 2011
A Personal Anthology 