This is a retelling of Tam O’Shanter, with fantastically spooky pictures by Peter Clover. If you’re easily scared, you should read it out in the bright sunlight, not in the dark at night!

This was an amazing book to write, because for the first time in my writing career, I knew how the story was going to end before I started writing it. But I didn’t know how I was going to get to the end, nor who I was going to meet along the way. Also I didn’t know how the words and pictures would work together. It was really exciting to see the pictures for the first time, and discover what my words had inspired the illustrator to imagine and create.

It was also quite a scary book to write – not just because it’s about witches, warlocks, the devil and nasty gory bits of bodies on an altar, but because this is a story told by Robert Burns in his brilliant and very famous poem. Walking in his footsteps is a pretty daunting task for any writer. But I went to Alloway and ran down the hill to the bridge, and I read the traditional tales that had inspired Burns, then I wrote my own version. See what you think!