All but one of the stories in The Haunting of Chas McGill take place in England. The England portrayed in the stories varies considerably, however, depending on whether Westall looks at England past, present, or future. The England of the past appears in "The Haunting of Chas McGill" and in "Sea Coal." Although these portraits of the past remind the reader of the uncertainties of that time, whether it be the fears of the war or the poverty of inhabitants of 1932 in "Sea Coal," that era also reminds us of the value of hard work and of the connection to family. The England of the present is recreated through faithfulness to speech and dialogue and a sense of tangible detail. The palpable cold that the audience feels in "Almost a Ghost Story" is generated through the sense of place—the stone floors, the fireplace that removes rather...