This is a wonderful collection of short stories, perfect for a late evening in front of a roaring fire with a mug of something hot. For those of you who ‘don’t read ghost stories because they are too scary’, this is not one of those types of ghost story books. They are slightly creepy certainly, but nothing which will make you too scared to go to bed or cause nightmares.

The stories are all set in and around the world of Ancient Rome and, what I was delighted to discover is that they are all inspired by genuine ancient works. This is the book’s real strength: this is an author who knows her stuff academically and has combined this with a talent for telling the story in such a way that you do not need to be an expert yourself. The characters feel authentically Roman, but yet are not alien to a modern audience. Take, for example, the profligate son in the story entitled ‘Under the Kitchen Floor’. His wealthy father has been away for twelve months, and the son has been wasting his money on prostitutes and parties. When the father arrives home unexpectedly there is an amusing attempt to divert the father from finding out what his son has been up to, involving a curse and a hidden corpse. There is a lovely spooky twist in this tale, which I enjoyed immensely.

There are no duds in this collection, but my favourite was ‘Of Blood and Gods’, which was loosely inspired by Suetonius’ Life of Augustus. I spend a lot of time teaching about Augustus, and I was fascinated by the idea of him being born in a haunted bedroom. I also enjoyed the twist in the poignant ‘A Tomb for a Wedding Bed’, based on a source I had not come across before – Phlegon of Tralles. Each of the stories has clear references to the original source material, and could be a very useful and accessible way into a more challenging text for students. It also made me consider that students might like to write their own stories based on ancient sources, an interesting idea for enrichment perhaps. It was also interesting to read the notes at the back where the author explained a little more about each of the primary sources and the decisions she had made in altering the original to fit her purpose. It seems that this book was inspired by a podcast, which I will now certainly go and listen to. Highly recommended.