Fiddle o' Dreams and More

By Arthur Morrison

A political candidate promises a village a "hairyplane"; elsewhere, a hidden gambling room turns secrecy, chance and self-deception into dangerous business. Such schemes belong to a world where petty criminals devise elaborate frauds, respectable citizens conceal inconvenient truths, and vulnerable people must negotiate the uneasy boundary between affection and dishonesty. Comic misunderstandings repeatedly expose the distance between how people present themselves and what they are prepared to do. Across London and a series of sharply observed local settings, working-class and lower-middle-class lives provide the ground for crime fiction shaped by social realism and satire. Gambling, poverty and social aspiration drive characters towards dubious calculations, while strong regional dialect gives their excuses, boasts and unreliable rationalisations an immediate voice. Criminal farce sits beside quieter forms of deception, and apparent respectability is never a reliable guide to innocence, honesty or good sense. Supernatural fiction deepens that uncertainty, allowing superstition, memory and fear to challenge ordinary explanations. Ghostly encounters and psychological horror share space with theatrical comedy, fraudulent promotion and the precarious existence of an impoverished touring company. The collection moves deftly between comic exposure and unease, yet its recurring concern remains constant: appearances are constructed, reputations are fragile, and those who believe they understand the game may already have misread it. This book was out of print for decades and is now republished by Alpha Editions. It has been restored for today's and future generations. This edition is not just a reprint - it's a collector's item and a cultural treasure.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 9309335947
• ISBN13: 9789309335945
• Release Date: October 2026
• Publisher: Alpha Edition
• Length: 168 Pages
• Weight: 0.52 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.4" x 6.0"