Devils in the Details: On Location with Folk Tales in England’s Forgotten County

ISBN: 9781915434388

Format: Paperback, 304 pages,

30 B&W photographs

Forthcoming (Due: April 2026)

£12.99

Available for pre-order. Please email us with any pre-order queries.

Book details

Join Rory Waterman on thirteen quests into Lincolnshire’s landscape in search of the origins and legacies of the folk tales of England’s forgotten county.

Lincolnshire is a rich picking ground for folklorists and others interested in folk tales. Many of the tales from the region provide missing links between better known stories and historical events, while others fascinate for their sheer strangeness and apparent unconnectedness to more familiar narratives. Most are dependent on societal concerns or geographical features of a county that has always been relatively cut off from national narratives by virtue of its scale and remoteness.

Devils in the Details is a window into the origins and legacies of Lincolnshire’s folk tales, a love letter home, and a book which inspires exploration in many guises and on many fronts.

The Devil’s in the Details is a rich and vivid ode to the oft-overlooked folklore of Lincolnshire. Waterman marries robust research with humorous narration, and crafts personal reflections with poetic flair as he travels the county talking to its people, capturing its landscapes, and seeking its hidden folkloric treasures. We travel alongside Waterman as he encounters stories of devils, boggarts, witches, and wild men, and as he searches for the horseshoes, the big rocks, and the old doors that anchor these stories to the land. I loved it!
–Dr Ceri Houlbrook, Folklore: A Journey Through the Past and Present
An enlightening companion to an overlooked county, Devils in the Details is part memoir, part literary criticism and all love of Lincolnshire. The book plunges into the stuff of story in luminous, evocative prose shot through with a wry sense of humour. It will tell you a lot about stories, and probably something about yourself too.
–Eleanor Conlon, Three Ravens Podcast

We gratefully acknowledge the funded support of the Arts and Humanities Research Council on this publication.

About the Author

Rory Waterman was born in Belfast in 1981, and grew up in Lincolnshire, and currently lives in Nottingham where he is Professor of Modern Literature and Creative Writing at Nottingham Trent University. He is a contributor to and the co-editor of Lincolnshire Folk Tales Reimagined (Five Leaves, 2025), and the author of four books of poetry published, and several critical books.

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