Beverley Lee (she/her) is a bestselling dark fiction author who lives close to the dreaming spires of Oxford, England. Her work specialises in atmospheric horror, creeping dread, and broken boys – sometimes altogether – but are always filled with heart and the tenuous threads of relationships pushed to the brink. All the Feels, all the time. Vampires are her first love and occasionally they stop whispering long enough for her to write other books. When she’s not writing you’ll find her rambling through the countryside, dreaming about male vampires kissing, and exploring time-worn graveyards.
AUTHOR LINKS:
Website: beverleylee.com
Instagram: @theconstantvoice
Substack: beverleylee.substack.com
Book Sample:
The Haunting of Wounded Birds – Amazon Look Inside
Book Pitch for Readers/Book Clubs:
When Jack ‘Jackdaw’ Dawtrey goes to live with a half sister he never knew he had, the discovery of an old journal under the floorboards of his room begins a journey filled with dark forests, old rituals, black birds, and haunted boys.
Your coming-of-age folk horror, The Haunting of Wounded Birds, was released Nov 2025 – tell us about the inspiration behind this book, and why you felt drawn to write a YA folk horror.
I’ve always been drawn to British folk horror. Growing up here and living in a rural location it’s always vibrating in the background, the ancient moving quietly alongside the chaos of modern living, and I make full use of that in the story. Even though my protagonist is a teenager, I’ve called this a coming-of-age rather than a YA, as it does have character point of views from adults who are integral to the narrative.
The idea actually came from a short story I wrote a few years ago. I always felt like there was much more potential in it rather than the 6000 words I’d written, and this story became the historical element of Wounded Birds.
And I’m very drawn to corvids and their intelligence, they play a huge part in Jackdaw’s tale, as well as forming part of the title, the meaning of which is unveiled by the end of the book.
Introduce us to your main character, Jack ‘Jackdaw’ Dawtrey! What was the most challenging part of telling his story, and what was the most rewarding (or were they the same?!)?
Jackdaw is such a special character to me. He wound himself around my heart very quickly, maybe because everything that had happened to him wasn’t his fault and he was swept along in the tide, never able to make any decisions for himself. But as the story progresses he does get to make his own choices, even though they terrify him. The courage to do this is partly fuelled by his friendship with Oscar, a boy who grew up in the village and knows its customs intimately.
The bonds of male friendship are integral to Wounded Birds. I wanted to show that it’s okay for boys to form deep friendships, to care and to show that care.
The most rewarding aspect of telling Jackdaw’s story? Seeing him grow into who he was always supposed to be, even though the pathway to this was fraught with danger and tears.
How did you research and create the village rituals, especially Gala Day? Were these based on real ones, and was Combe Hurst inspired by any real villages?
The Gala Day (Gallows Day—from Anglo Saxon ‘Galga’) ritual in The Haunting of Wounded Birds is based on the feast of Martinmas, or Old Halloween (St. Martin’s Day).
This occurs on November 11th, which was the release date for the book. In the Middle Ages it was an important feast day in European countries where processions of children with lanterns would walk the streets. It’s also marked by lighting bonfires.
I use both of these in Wounded Birds along with my own added interpretation of the avifauna, a huge paper bird carried in the parade.
Combe Hurst is a fictional village but there’s certain details I’ve taken from villages I’ve explored over many years. Combe means valley and Hurst means wooded hill, which is where I’ve located the village—in a valley between two hills, one wooded.
What is it about rural English villages that lend themselves to folk horror – but also as spaces where you chose to explore themes of family, community, friendship, and justice?
Maybe it’s because of the history in an English village. Many have churches built in Saxon or Norman times. The past runs in their rivers, in the land beneath the feet of the people who live there, in the trees which have watched over joy and heartache, seen wars and the rise and fall of monarchies.
Many have families who have lived there for generations, who pass on stories, both true and fabricated. They have their own sense of what is right and what is wrong which might counter the views of newcomers.
Old rituals are important, and, in the case of Combe Hurst, essential to the village’s identity and prosperity, even if those rituals are borne from the trauma of the innocent.
Other themes explored in the book include critiques of power and privilege, and the impact of superstitious fear; why were these critiques important to you to include in a YA novel?
There’s an historical back story which forms the spine of Wounded Birds, a story of two boys centuries ago, and what happened to them, through no fault of their own.
One was the youngest son of the hangman, and one was a traveller boy passing through.
Back then a rich landowner had the power and the privilege to affect lives. It didn’t matter about the truth. What happened to these boys shapes the superstitious fear of the village, the impact of which Jackdaw feels as a newcomer. He’s someone to be watched, someone they will use.
I felt like it was important to include these as power and privilege still hold sway in modern times, that social injustices and superstitious fear still exist—it’s a reminder that nothing really changes and to be aware. It invites the reader to consider the experiences of others different to themselves.
What is your favourite piece of reader feedback or reviews for this series so far?
That many readers want to adopt Jackdaw, (but they’ll have to form an orderly queue.) Which is probably the greatest compliment a writer can get!
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