'Shadowy Waters'

The last story in the anthology The Far Tower: Stories for W.B. Yeats is by Reggie Oliver, who has established himself over the last two decades as one of the most highly-regarded authors of the traditional ghost story. 'Shadowy Waters' takes its title from a dramatic poem by Yeats, who was of course a firm believer in a (rather odd) afterlife.

The narrator, Villiers, journeys to Alderness in East Anglia for a funeral and to act as the executor for a former lover, Nell. Villiers is a widowed retired teacher who acted in his younger days, and enjoyed the pleasures of first love with Nell in the seaside town. Nell, however, was a New Age type, and Villiers eventually broke it off, feeling they were too different. When he arrives he finds that Nell apparently left most of her wealth to a donkey sanctuary owned by a spiritualist/guru charlatan, Hamilton Souter. But Nell's lawyer suggests that there may have been a second will, now apparently lost...

Souter is excellently drawn, and the story moves neatly from a poignant meditation on loneliness and regret to full-on horror as serious villainy occurs. A trick box acts as a neat metaphor for the process of both solving a mundane mystery and implying a far greater one. Fortunately for Villiers, Nell comes to the rescue in an unexpected but appropriate fashion. However, the final sentence - 'I was alone again' - sums up what has been lost.

This is a suitably strong ending to an excellent selection, one that explores many facets of the poet's works, life, and philosophy. All credit to editor Mark Valentine and the Swan River Press for producing such a beautiful book. The cover design deserves lavish praise - it is by Meggan Kehrli from artwork by John Coulthart.