And then, suddenly, like a great yellow sea-monster rising from the deep, her mother's face lurched upwards, grimacing, contorted...

Welcome to Celia Fremlin's nightmare world: from idyllic cottages to cruise ship holidays, seaside weekends to school sports days, nothing is as it seems.

Whether a trip to Dead Man's Rock or a reports of flying saucers in suburban gardens, Fremlin reveals the uncanny lurking beneath our everyday lives - revenge, family feuds, murder and ghosts are never far away .