PHANTOM LOVERS

by Ruskin Bond

‘I entered a bedroom and found myself facing a full-length mirror. My reflection stared back at me as though I were a stranger, as though my reflection belonged to the house, while I was only an outsider. […]As I turned from the mirror, I thought I saw someone, something, some reflection other than mine, move behind me in the mirror.’
Whether it is to escape the horrors of real life, or to investigate what happens when we die—whatever the motivation, the eerie and the uncanny have a strong hold on the human mind. It is often the first question we ask the hotel manager when we visit an old town. Some even go looking for towns and homes infamous for hauntings! The supernatural is a powerful force, and it makes for great storytelling.
In Phantom Lovers, Ruskin Bond takes us through a collection of stories and personal essays that delve into the other world. From corpses that come alive, to thieves who appear to be haunting your train bogey, to scratching on your door that sounds alarmingly like human nails, creatures that live in the water, waiting for their victims—this book has something for every horror lover; maybe even the potential to turn you into a believer!

110 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 5, 2022

About the author

Ruskin Bond is an Indian author of British descent. He is considered to be an icon among Indian writers and children's authors and a top novelist. He wrote his first novel, The Room on the Roof, when he was seventeen which won John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize in 1957. Since then he has written several novellas, over 500 short stories, as well as various essays and poems, all of which have established him as one of the best-loved and most admired chroniclers of contemporary India. In 1992 he received the Sahitya Akademi award for English writing, for his short stories collection, "Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra", by the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters in India. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1999 for contributions to children's literature. He now lives with his adopted family in Landour near Mussoorie.

Reviews

[Harshith J. V. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice little compilation of ghost times. Nice break from other genres by Ruskin Bond I've been reading lately. And Bond can write ghost stories some with humor and some scary.

This book does not contain dead scary ghost stories if that's what you're expecting. Apart from few, most stories in this book are funny. That makes this book great for light reading.