From the Middle Ages to the not-very-distant past, ballads were one of the most accessible forms of storytelling. And while our preferred media may have changed overall, our love of stories endures.

Traditional ballad tales are often dark, often otherworldly, often disarmingly sensitive in portraying emotionally complex characters, full of symbolisms and connections to other traditions. Old Songs seeks to introduce readers to ballad stories and the historical insights they bring. Join Amy for demon lovers, tenacious mothers, fairy queens and guilt-wracked stepping stones.

About Amy Jeffs:

Amy Jeffs is a critically acclaimed and Sunday Times bestselling cultural historian and artist.

Her first book, STORYLAND: A New Mythology of Britain (2021), was a Sunday Times bestseller, shortlisted for Waterstones Book of the Year & named a Times Historical Fiction Book of the Year. Her second book, WILD: Tales from Early Medieval Britain (2022), was named audiobook of the week by the Times and the Guardian. It explores an old idea of the wilderness through medieval stories of outcasts, monsters and the natural, supernatural world.

Jeffs has a PhD in Art History from Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and specialises in medieval art and culture. Her writing is often accompanied by her own monochromatic illustrations. She lives in Somerset.