The Islands of Sorrow

Simon Raven is best known for his colorful personal life (he once infamously sent a telegram to his starving wife suggesting that she eat their baby) and his ten-volume saga Alms for Oblivion, but he was also a master of the macabre and supernatural, most notably in his classic vampire novel Doctors Wear Scarlet (1960). This new edition of his complete short supernatural fiction comprises the two limited edition volumes originally published as The Islands of Sorrow (1994) and Remember Your Grammar and Other Haunted Stories (1997).


The Islands of Sorrow is set in occupied Italy in the summer of 1945, where a British army officer, Adam Ogilvie, begins to grow curious about a series of strange happenings. His investigations lead him to the island of Marciume (whose name means "decay"), where nurses dressed in bizarre garb tend to a community of masked patients, sufferers from a mysterious disease similar to leprosy. Ignoring the warnings of his Italian colleagues, Ogilvie continues his queries, which finally lead him to an ancient catacombs where ten corpses hanging from the walls will lead to a horrible revelation. This volume also features eleven shorter tales, including eerie and elegant classics of the macabre like "Remember Your Grammar," "The Bottle of 1912," and "The Sarcophagus."