A fine collection of themed short stories. On the whole I'm inclined to say Nye's talent lends itself to long form because it plays into her knack for building up characters and their relationships. However, in these short stories she quickly draws up a wide array of characters, highlighting key points and relationships with great economy. I was impressed with her creativity in interpreting these traditions and inspirations into a nicely varied anthology.

My favourite is probably Passover. My least favourite is Halloween, partly because I have no attachment to it, and partly because it irked me to see the kids get away with destroying a farmer's livelihood (despite a scare) when they were clearly in the wrong throughout.

On reflection, a couple of the stories featuring village mystics seemed a bit similar in broad shape, though different in the details. Not a problem, just an observation. ( )