Overview
Based on an urban myth, 'Gnomes' is a little bit different for me. Written for the academic collection, 'New Fairy Tales', it's a short story for adults with touches of mild horror and black comedy. Harold and Evelyn live blameless lives in their neat home on Laburnum Avenue - until the neighbour over the road plants his front garden out with gnomes. And one of them is particularly sinister.
'Despite rosy cheeks and a Santa Claus beard, the gnome's small white eyebrows drew together in a bad-tempered scowl. Its eyes were hard and cold and its red mouth was pursed in a mean simper. Its head was too big for its body and it stood with thick short legs braced aggressively apart. It wore blue dungarees over a yellow shirt and carried a suitcase...'
