A gorgeous gothic fable.

Ffangs the Vampire Bat and the Kiss of Truth follows a little vampire bat whose appetite for blood collides with a world increasingly obsessed with health, image and moral reform. 

Chris Riddell’s illustrations are perfect for Hughes’ sensibility. The drawings feel simultaneously grotesque and affectionate, full of wiry cross-hatching, looming shadows, bulging eyes and theatrical expressions that push the story into something almost Edward Gorey-adjacent. There is a genuine sweetness here too, but it is the sweetness of outsiders and odd creatures trying, badly, to become acceptable to the world around them. The book trusts unease, absurdity and emotional contradiction. Even the comedy carries a slightly haunted quality, like a bedtime story told too late at night.

First edition hardback in excellent condition with bright illustrated boards and clean internal pages throughout. Illustrated by Chris Riddell. A beautifully preserved copy of one of Hughes’ scarcer and more unusual children’s books.