These are stories written during the war years. They are concerned not so much with outward events as with the psychological climate - here, at home in England - of this war. And some of them pass over into the hinterland of fantasy that, however grim or astounding fact may be, remains always a little stranger than fact..These are only uncanny tales in so far as they show, in the behaviour of men, women and children, the effect of dreams, fancies, notions or unaccountable memories - sometimes comforting, sometimes much the reverse - now shaken loose from their corners and at large. Here and there, through cracks in the present, the past, with new meaning comes vividly into view. At the same time, in battered London, at the deserted seaside, in the immobilized country, the characters in 'The Demon Lover' stories continue to try to lead an 'ordinary' life.