I enjoyed some of the stories in this collection but otherwise I found I didn’t really understand. The writing is beautiful and poetic although sometimes it felt as if style was chosen over characters and plot. This is fine in a short story collection but I think it probably applies to at least 10 of the 12 stories and was a bit much for me personally.

I’m not going to rate each story but the 2 I enjoyed most were the title story ‘The beginning of the world in the middle of the night’ and ‘Aunt Libby’s Coffin Hotel’. Unfortunately a few of the other stories instantly faded from my memory (pebbles, in the dark) and I didn’t like Animals or Sea Devils.

So for me, a mixed bag. I believe that this is a very beautiful and well written collection but it just wasn’t well suited to me.