The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night is an enchanting and often dark mixture of fairy tales in the modern world. There are hearts purchased online, children who grow vines in their hair, and a mysterious new planet. There is also a young boy just trying to understand his family, a soldier who walks into a stranger's kitchen, and a couple who spend the night discussing how the world began. In other words, when reading The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night you never know exactly what to expect.

Each story in this collection contains its own little world, and while some of these worlds are stranger than others, each one feels as though it could exist within our own somehow. There is a sense of fairy tale influence in all of the stories but they each vary in how much or how little they depend upon this, and each story does feel very much as though the world within it exists on its own, drawing you into something different and new for a few pages before spitting you out again. The only complaint this draws is that some of the stories are very short, and the best ones leave a longing for them to be just a bit longer, so that more time might be spent getting to know these unique and fascinating worlds

As with any short story collection, readers will connect with some stories more than others. Personally, my favourites were 'Aunt Libby's Coffin Hotel' about a girl and her aunt who run a hotel on an island, where guests can rent a coffin to sleep in for a night, and 'Little Deaths' about a world in which ghosts are caught, bought, and sold in jars. I would have loved for both of these to have been a little longer so that I could have learnt more about those worlds and the people in them. There were, of course, some stories that I didn't like so much, but while I didn't quite connect with 'Jacob' or 'Plum Pie. Zombie Green. Yellow Bee. Purple Monster' I am certain that there will be plenty of other readers who will find those to be their favourite stories in the collection.

If you're a particular lover of dark, whimsical, fairy tale inspired short stories, then you definitely won't regret picking up The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night and with such a variety of different story telling techniques and subjects displayed, there is bound to be something here for any short story lover.

12 hauntingly beautiful short stores that will capture the imagination of any reader; there’s something for everyone in this collection!
I have watched Jen’s videos and love her “Weird things” books (as an ex Bookseller I relate so hard to it!) and yet I was still blown away by her lyrical writing. 
A must read for fans of Grimm’s fairy tales, Philip Pullman or Leigh Bardugo’s recent Language of Thorns. 
Thank you to Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night - Jen Campbell

4/5

Fantastically weird,modern,fairy tales 

Spirits in jam jars, mini-apocalypses, animal hearts and side shows.
A girl runs a coffin hotel on a remote island.
A boy is worried his sister has two souls.
A couple are rewriting the history of the world. 
And mermaids are on display at the local aquarium.

I like fairy tales, especially modern ones with a nod to myth and legend. I do NOT like collections of short stories. Never had, never will do. Not even my faves like Neil Gaiman. I find it hard to get into a story only for it to end and start again with a brand new story and no chance of redemption or closure. Occasionally you’ll find a gem(s) amongst the collections that reinstalls your faith. 
In Jen Campbell’s The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night, happily there were several and a few standouts.There are twelve short stories most solid, a few miss the mark, as would be expected but I will concentrate on the ones that were particularly effective.
The first story ‘Animals’ is my favourite and a strong start to the collection.
This story is set in a world  where animal hearts are transplanted to keep people alive. The recipient takes on the personality traits of the animal it came from. 
The fox heart made her nocturnal, the bear heart made her possessive and the wolf heart gave her rage. A Husband searches for a suitable heart for his wife or is it for him ? 
This tale is suitably dark, surreal and bizarre. Well written, thought provoking and disturbing and thoroughly enjoyable, it left me wanting more.
I loved the short story ‘The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night’ - a bizarre conversation that we’ve all had with a friend or partner in the middle of the night. This story is written in a script style and this works well to convey that sleepy, half listening discussion about what it’s all about. 
The other stand out for me was Aunt Libby’s Coffin Hotel. A little lighter than the others in the collection but great fun. It’s set in a hotel on a remote island where the family rents out coffins and the experience of death in an attempt to reconnect with their deceased loved ones. 
I liked that it evoked a strong, almost gothic feel and was impressed that there was such sense of the characters and setting in such a short space of time. I do believe that this story could be expanded and would be enjoyable as a stand alone novel of its own. 
On reflection I enjoyed this collection a lot more than I originally thought. It does suffer from the problem of all short story collections in that you are unable to settle and have say goodbye, too soon, to a story you’re enjoying. But hey, that’s why some people like short stories. 
Some of the stories ideas are better than their execution and on occasion the well researched content feels like a list of facts with a story thrown in rather than the other way round. 
However I thoroughly enjoyed reading these, I enjoyed the darkness, whimsy and magical realism and also the author’s observations on human nature. Recommended, probably in small chunks, for maximum enjoyment.
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

I don’t read many short story collections as I generally find novels more rewarding. However, occasionally I do see one that looks worth taking a chance on. The first thing I liked about The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night was honestly the cover. It was colourful and gorgeous, and a little shocking. I also loved the title, I thought it sounded lyrical and intriguing. Neither the cover nor the title are things to really judge a book on but they are honestly what first attracted me to the collection. After reading the stories I am pretty tempted to buy myself a copy of this gorgeous book.
I was immediately drawn in by the first story ‘Animals’. It was shocking at times but it retained a certain beauty to it throughout. I loved how the author played around and twisted established fairytales. Fairytales themselves almost always have an intrinsic and surprising darkness to them which provides scope for really investigating what they mean and telling them in new and original ways. These short stories were not always immediately recognisable as fairytale retellings but they all had elements and twists to them that led straight back to these tales. My other favourite of the collection was ‘Margaret and Mary and the End of the World’. I liked the authors take on several of the issues that were brought up in the tale ranging from religion to eating disorders. It was dark and intense but also beautiful and heartbreaking. I actually liked most of the stories, there were no real duds in my opinion. The titular story was a great blend of sadness and unexpected comic moments. The author’s writing has a great mystical feeling to it which enhances every single one of the stories and there is some really effective imagery created. This collection’s main focus seems to be the fragility and meaning of human life, our mortality and the worlds obsession with defying death. It also proves how fairytales that have been around for hundreds of years are also filled with these themes. I am certainly no expert on short stories and I’m sure I have not grasped all of the subtext and meaning in these tales but I very much enjoyed reading this fantastical and strange book.

This book is magical, beautiful, breathtaking and wonderful. A perfect collection of short stories, set in worlds where magic is real and constantly rubs shoulders with the normal, mundane everyday aspects of life. Exquisitely written. I cannot recommend this enough, specifically to lovers of fairy tales and magical realism as this will tick all your boxes. Would also recommend to fans of Neil Gaiman and Kirsty Logan.

This is a collection of short stories that are slightly quirky - they are based around fairy tales and magic. They were a bit too strange for me - the first one especially about hearts and burying them in the garden! weird! Her writing is lovely and I imagine she loves fairy tales!

Having only read Campbell's non-fiction before and being aware of her fascination with fairytales from her YouTube channel, I was looking forward to seeing what she had to offer through this collection of short stories. The majority of the stories are inspired by or contain in one way or another fairytale elements with a dark and quirky twist. I found Campbell's stories wonderfully imaginative but in some of them I thought the idea was better than the actual execution. Some of the shorter ones gave the impression of extended poems in prose form, or perhaps they would work better as poems rather than short stories. 

I very much enjoyed the overall dark and whimsical atmosphere of the stories and two of my favourites were 'Little Deaths' and 'Bright White Hearts'. While I appreciate and admire the author's research on various topics included in or touched upon her stories, one thing that really bothered me was the very frequent reference of trivia-like information which felt very redundant and rather unnecessary for me at times. I would have liked to see this information blend in the story rather than being cited out of the blue, even if it was pertinent to an event or theme contained in the story.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this collection of short stories and I do believe it is a very promising start in the author's prose writing.

This is a short story collection centred around themes of fairy tales and magical realism. The writing is great and the concept is an interesting one, but I found that some of the stories just didn't really work for me. I'm still glad that I read it though and I would recommend reading it if you are interested.

I absolutely loved some of these stories, and some were far too short lived for my liking. The atmosphere throughout the entire book kept me thinking 'when is this seemingly cute story going to turn a bit creepy?' and towards the end of almost very story, it did turn creepy. I wasn't disappointed about that though, I love a good twist at the end that makes the perspective shift and the character seem a bit weirder!

My favourites were:
Animals, Margaret and Mary and the End of the World, The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night, and Aunt Libby’s Coffin Hotel.

Also, I found my name (spelled correctly) in there! It was included in the story 'The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night' which really made me smile.

The Beginning Of The World In The Middle Of The Night by Jen Campbell appealed to me because it was described as being a series of modern fairy tales.

I often struggle with short story collections and there are very few I actually enjoy. This collection had three stories I loved but the rest were not memorable for me.

Animals was my favourite story from the collection and the first line drew me in and gave me hope this would be the kind of book I love.

“These days you can find anything you need at the click of a button.

That’s why I bought her heart online.”

The protagonist of the story has bought a swan’s heart offline to try to keep a former lover by their side, having already tried and failed to keep Cora using other animals hearts the hope is that she will stay with this heart because swans mate for life.

This short story contains musings on the nature of love and facts and legends about surrounding the heart. It also contains facts about swans and some fairy tales about them.

My favourite of these was one I first heard when watching Jim Henson’s The Storyteller in the form of The Three Ravens.

I also liked the story Little Deaths about a town whose residents keep ghosts in jars.

“Our town is full of ghosts. We try to catch them during break. They struggle against our grip, shapeshifting. We shove them into wine bottles and jam jars, fish bowls and snow globes.”

The children of the town even have homework centred around ghosts and death.

The other story I loved from the collection was Aunt Libby’s Coffin Hotel. The book begins with a leaflet advertising the coffin hotel.

“Desperate to communicate with deceased loved ones?

Looking for answers about mortality?

Dare to spend an evening toying with death?”

It goes on to talk about Ankaa Angel of Death.

“Just thirteen years old, this changeling has untold wisdom collected from years spent in Hades…Ankaa is a child stuck between heaven and hell.”

My favourite thing about this tale was the different legends about death and dying.

The stories I liked saved the collection for me but I don’t think I would buy it for myself.

This is a collection of 12 short stories, each very unique and slightly bizarre, all inspired by folklore and fairytales but with modern and unusual twists. I have to be in the right mood for short stories, and fortunately I was for these – I really enjoyed them. I won’t detail each one, but here are a few of the ones that stuck with me:

The first story Animals: this is set in a world where animal hearts are easily transplanted to keep people alive, but also gives the transplantee a new personality from whatever animal the heart comes from. A man keeps his wife alive by choosing new hearts for her based on what he wants from her – a new look at the concept of consent.
In the Dark: this was particularly short and random, but a man walks into a woman’s kitchen one evening, doesn’t say a word, eats and leaves. It’s odd but entrancing.
The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night: this gives its name to the whole collection and was the one that made the most impact on me. It was sad and heartfelt but funny and personal. In the middle of the night, a couple discuss what beginnings are and what they mean, but there’s more to it than that as the story ends. Everyone knows that feeling of late night talks about nothing and everything.
Aunt Libby’s Coffin Hotel: this was probably the most fun story of all – a woman and her niece run a hotel filled with coffins where people go to experience death for a night. It was slightly predictable, filled with fun mythological references and probably the easiest one to read from the collection.

When I saw this book I loved the unusual name coupled with the gorgeous cover, and I thought to myself I have to read this.  It turned out to be a really eclectic series of stories.  Each one different, each one unique.  There’s fantasy, sci-fi, even a story concerning abuse and grief.  One of them is even written in script format.

The overall theme is fairy tales, some have actually been included in the stories themselves, changed slightly.  One in particular I remember is a retelling of Rapunzel where she’s half human, half plant.  

I especially enjoyed two of the stories.  Animals, set in a world where you can buy love in the form of an animal heart (it’s a little gruesome) and Aunt Libby’s Coffin Hotel, about a young girl called Ankaa who lives with her Aunt Libby, a bit of a con artist, who sells an overnight death experience but comes face-to-face with real supernatural phenomenon.

The only thing I felt was some of the stories didn’t seem finished or there was more story to tell. 
Overall not a light-hearted read but each story is poignant and thought provoking.

This is an often bizarre and surreal collection of short stories that are also very poetic, darkly humorous in places and more than a little disturbing at times.  There are also hints at some very sensitive subjects in a few of the stories, such as religion, eating disorders, sexuality and mortality. Most of the stories contain folklore/myths or are twists (very twisted at times) on well known fairy tales. My favourite story is The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night, which reminded me of some of the strange conversations my husband and I have had on sleepless nights.

This book won't be a great fit for everyone but I love the collection for it's amazing weirdness, the like of which I have never read before.

I adore a twisted fairy tale and The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night is full of them. Jen references fairy tales and folklore throughout the collection, and it is clear that she loves them. I was lucky enough to attend her event at Blackwells in Newcastle, where she talked about some of her inspirations and read from the collection, and one of the things she talked about was the retelling of old stories in new ways to make readers look at them from a different perspective. This is something she achieves in this collection, which tackles familiar ideas but in very, very different ways. So often the twists in so-called twisted tales are predictable, but this is never the case here. 
The collection is full of wonderful stories, which tackles issues like bodily autonomy, creation, eating disorders and teenage pregnancy. I don’t want to tell you too much about it because to do so would really spoil the stories for you, and I really think everyone should discover this collection for themselves. 
There was no story in the collection that I didn’t like, but there were some which are firm favourites within the collection:
Animals really stood out for me. It punched me in the feels from the opening line and never really let up. The tension in this story builds slowly and carefully and before you really know what happened it ends in a place you could never have imagined. I read this one more than once before even looking at any other story in the collection. 
Jacob is a really special story in which Jen perfectly captures the voice and confusion of a young boy. I loved the way that he narrates his sister’s issues from the perspective of his youth. I have a small boy of my own and this is exactly the way he would tell a story. 
The title story, The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night is, on one level, about a tree outside of a couple’s house, but it is also a story about beginnings of all kinds. It is beautifully told and really packs a punch. 
The concept of the ghosts in jam jars in Little Deaths and the Coffin Hotel in Aunt Libby’s Coffin Hotel were both fascinating and creepy, and Margaret and Mary and the End of the World tackles some difficult issues linked to Bible stories in a very unexpected way. 
The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night is just wonderful. Perfect for anyone who loves a fairy tale with a sting in its tail. I promise if you pick up this collection you will not be disappointed.

3.5 stars

Jen Campbell is perhaps best known as the compiler of Weird Things Customers Say In Bookshops. Although I haven't yet read these compendiums of the odd, I've seen snippets here and there and they've made me laugh out loud. So I was curious to see how Campbell's talents would translate to the short story medium. The answer is: extremely well; although these unsettling stories aren't at all what one would expect from this tongue-in-cheek observer of human nature. Or... on the other hand... perhaps they are, for they reach deep inside us to the darker corners of the psyche, and their unifying feature is that these miniature worlds seem so straightforward, so simple, until you look between the lines and realise that something, subtly, is out of kilter.

It's always hard to review a collection of short stories, so I think it's best to do a quick summary of each one to whet your appetite. Things kick off with Animals, a disturbing tale of a near-future in which love has become a commodity, with morbid effects. The chilling narration of that tale gives way to the innocence of Jacob, a short but moving story in the form of a letter from a child who is struggling to comprehend the emotional complexity of the world around him. In Plum Pie, Zombie Green, Yellow Bee, Purple Monster, a group of very special children begin to challenge the rules of their botanical summer camp, while In The Dark is more of a vignette than a story - like a dream half-remembered - in which the narrator has a strange visitor. One of my favourites was Margaret and Mary and the End of the World, which uses Dante Gabriel Rossetti's Ecce Ancilla Domini in Tate Britain to explore themes of incarnation, frailty, starvation, mothers, children, love and loss. It's a painting I loved as a teenager, so I was very happy to see it featuring as the fulcrum of a story.

In Little Deaths, Campbell gives us a world in which our memories mutate into ghosts and experience is valued only in death. The eponymous story, The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night, is actually written as a playscript: two lovers discussing how things began - whether that's the universe, or their lives together. It's a beautiful evocation of the kind of rambling conversation that you can have late at night; but there's a poignant tweak. In Pebbles, a memory of childhood war blends into a present of self-realisation. Aunt Libby's Coffin Hotel tells the story of a woman and her niece, who promise vulnerable visitors a chance to taste death for a night - but which highlights the dangers of playing with powers you don't understand. In Sea Devils, the narrator and her best friend stalk crabs and dream of finding a way out of their suffocating lives, chafing at the boundaries of their world. And, finally, Human Satellites questions the morality of exploiting the gifts of a very strange planet.

Campbell's world is one in which the strange seems familiar, and the extraordinary everyday: I'd class these stories as magical realism rather than fantasy. She's fascinated by the darkness at the heart of human experience, and the way in which we yearn to transcend ourselves and our brief lives to become something greater than ourselves. For a debut collection, her voice is assured and confident, though I found that some stories were more memorable than others. I'd pick out Animals, Margaret and Mary and the End of the World, and The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night as my favourites among these stories; Pebbles and In the Dark didn't quite grab me in the same way. But I really enjoyed the 'feel' of these brooding, quirky stories and I'd be curious to see what Campbell would come up with if she ever decided to have a go at a full novel.

For those who'd like to find out a little more about Campbell, she's a book reviewer as well as a writer. Take a look at her lively YouTube channel to hear more about the books she's read and loved. Maybe you'll find some new recommendations! As for me, I'm going to have to hunt down a copy of Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops...

For the review, please see my blog:
https://theidlewoman.net/2018/01/21/the-beginning-of-the-world-in-the-middle-of-the-night-jen-campbell/

Jen lives and breathes fairy tale and that shined through in each and every page of this collection. Fairy tales and fairy tales characters populate the pages of this book and is amazing how knowledgeable she is and how she can put “fairies” in  untaught of places and situations. She can twist them around to amaze us. She can make them modern and can find connections between all sorts of mystical creatures and day to day elements/events. I found all that fascinating!!!
My 4* rating reflect the fact I've enjoyed some stories more than others and that's down to personal preference. Each and everyone's brilliant, you won't regret reading this!

Jen Campbell is an author and youtuber that I follow so I had to read her last book (with the longest book title) especially as she has such an amazing knowledge of fairytales and folktales which definitely shows in this short story collection! The cover is stunning and for me it such was a quick, easy and poetic read. 

I think that I had build this short story collection up a little too much before reading it as I wasn't as impressed or as in love within it nearly as much as I thought I would be. Out of the twelve short stories, my favourites include: animals, little deaths, human satellites and bright white hearts. I would recommend it if you like fairytales, folktales and bizarre stories but it could be quite polarising.

I hesitate to call these short stories. They are more like extended poems which have some prose elements to them. In some of the stories, my favourite example being the first story, where animal hearts can be put into humans, this works really well and gives them an eerie fairytale quality. In others, it frustrated me no end. I was sat on the bus resisting the urge to shout 'GET TO THE POINT' at my Kindle.

The elements of these stories are so creative and thought-provoking, they show the world in a kaleidoscopic, skewed kind of way. But if you're so caught up in abstract metaphors that you don't have time to think about why the story is clever then what's the point? 

But I am by no means all doom and gloom about this book. This tone doesn't always agree with me, but perhaps I was wrong to read all these stories in one go. The medium would suggest taking a break between them and I think if you read them in that way you would enjoy them a lot more. 

There are some difficult issues wrapped up in these stories, much like in classic fairytales. In this case, these stories deal with the issue of autonomy and a woman's right to her own body (and her heart). There's also some implied sexual assault/rape in one of the stories so content warning for you if that's something you don't want to read about.

Of all the short story compilations I've read, I'll confess this wasn't one of my favourites. Having said that, I think that is a matter of personal taste, if you like the tone of these stories and you want to read it then I think that's wonderful. I also think the core of these stories is solid, and the themes they explore are important and interesting. 

My rating: 3/5 stars

I received a digital review copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Can ideas be too good for their own good? The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night is a truly wonderful short story collection, containing twelve tales that are sometimes haunting, sometimes bizarre, but always magical. 

It was the cover that drew me towards this book, and as I received a copy of this through NetGalley I dived straight into the stories without knowing what was awaiting me. I was surprised by the sheer amount of ideas that these pages have been fed. There's one about buying hearts online in order to receive affection, another one has people stay at a coffin hotel. A girl gets impregnated by God, a town is inhabited by ghosts affecting the inhabitants daily routines. A lot happens and almost all of it drew me in. 

My favourite story was probably the one the book is named after, in which a couple talks about beginnings and endings in the middle of the night. It's a soft and charming tale with a fair share of melancholy. I fell in love with the characters, too, loved the way they interacted with each other and was almost sad when I had to leave them behind after a mere few pages to move on to the next story.

This feeling of Hey, I'm not ready to move on to the next tale yet! followed me throughout my reading. Some of the ideas were just so good that I wished they had been developed into longer stories, novels even. This book is just bursting with beginnings that could have easily been given more room to be developed. Apart from that, this is a short story collection that I would recommend to every lover of fairy tales and myths or anyone who is just looking for that whimsical touch of magic.

I took my time when reading this collection. Normally, with a short story collection I would read one story and instantly move on to the next. I think I enjoy short stories more when I read one, then take some time to process the story before moving on. 

This collection was highly enjoyable. All the stories have a dreamlike quality to them. I love magical realism more than any other genre but it is rarely done well. Here, it is done well. These stories are thought provoking and melodic in tone. I didn’t know about Jen’s other work before reading this, (I have seen on other reviews that she has a youtube channel) but it is clear that she is a poet. Her prose and writing style is captivating. I’m really glad that I picked this up and will probably go back and read some of these stories again.