A girl falls down a rabbit hole. Another finds a snowy forest at the back of her wardrobe. An orphan flies out of his bedroom window. Another finds a key to a secret garden..

The stories written for and about children are a window into our deepest hopes, joys and anxieties. They reveal our past – collective and individual, remembered and reimagined – and invite us to dream up a different future. More vivid, more real than books we encountered mere months ago, our childhood reading stays with us forever.

In a pioneering new history of the genre, The Haunted Wood explores children s literature at its best, from Aesop to Julia Donaldson. Providing startling insight into how authors might reflect a nation s psyche – be it through the imperial fantasies of Rudyard Kipling, the pastoral adventures of Beatrix Potter or the anarchic post-war heroes of Roald Dahl – Sam Leith offers an exquisite account of British childhood, as told through our most beloved stories.

Sam Leith is Literary Editor of the Spectator. He has also written extensively for the Guardian, TLS, Financial Times, Telegraph and Daily Mail, and was a judge for the 2015 Man Booker Prize. His previous books include You Talkin’ To Me?- Rhetoric from Aristotle to Trump and Beyond, and Write To The Point- How to be Clear, Correct, and Persuasive on the Page.