An Attempted Bibliography of the Works of Barbara Livesey

The Eden Book Society was a publishing house founded in 1919 by the Eden family, producing horror novelettes for a private subscriber list. Passed down through generations, its books appeared under pseudonyms and were rumoured to come from major horror writers linked to the mysterious family.

Following a successful Kickstarter campaign, Dead Ink is reissuing eight novels from Eden’s 1993 archive, spanning psychological torment, vampiric intrigue and visitors from beyond the grave. If you like your fiction strange, secretive and unsettling, this is a fascinating corner of horror history.

Though unpublished by Eden outside the anthology Best Short Stories: 1952, Barbara Livesey remains part of the story. Her first yellow-envelope submission from Norwich is postmarked December 1949, with a cover letter signed “M.G.W.” Correspondence continues through autumn 1955. Livesey’s writing career lasted until July 1959, when the trail goes cold.