The Haunted Wood

A History of Childhood Reading

By: Sam Leith

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Paperback | 4 September 2025

At a Glance

Paperback
592 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
19.8 x 12.9 x 4.9

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***A Financial Times, TLS, Economist and New Statesman Book of the Year 2024***

Can you remember the first time you fell in love with a book?

The stories we read as children matter. The best ones are indelible in our memories; reaching far beyond our childhoods, they are a window into our deepest hopes, joys and anxieties. They reveal our past â" collective and individual, remembered and imagined â" and invite us to dream up different futures.

In a pioneering history of the childrenâs literary canon, The Haunted Wood reveals the magic of childhood reading, from the ancient tales of Aesop, through the Victorian and Edwardian golden age to new classics. Excavating the complex lives of our most beloved writers, Sam Leith offers a humane portrait of a genre and celebrates the power of books to inspire and console entire generations.

'A MARVEL' PHILIP PULLMAN

'A DELIGHT' JULIA DONALDSON

'GLORIOUSLY ENTERTAINING' TOM HOLLAND

About the Illustrator

Sam Leith is Literary Editor of the Spectator. He has also written extensively for the Guardian, TLS, Financial Times, Telegraph and Daily Mail, and was a judge for the 2015 Man Booker Prize. His previous books include You Talkin' To Me?: Rhetoric from Aristotle to Trump and Beyond, and Write To The Point: How to be Clear, Correct, and Persuasive on the Page.

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