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Night Side of the River
A captivating collection of ghost stories from “one of the most gifted writers working today” ( New York Times ), The Night Side of the River is as ingeniously provocative as it is downright spooky.
In this delightfully chilling collection, the iconic Jeanette Winterson turns her fearless gaze to the realm of ghosts, interspersing her own encounters with the supernatural alongside hair-raising fictions. Lifting the veil between the living and the dead, Winterson spirits us away to a haunted estate that ensnares a nomadic young couple in its own dark past, a staged immersive ghost tour gone awry, a West Village séance that threatens the bounds between AI and reality, and a vacation home in the metaverse where a widow visits an improved version of her deceased husband. Gloriously gothic and unnervingly contemporary, Winterson examines grief, revenge, and the myriad ways in which technology can disrupt the boundary between life and death.
In this delightfully chilling collection, the iconic Jeanette Winterson turns her fearless gaze to the realm of ghosts, interspersing her own encounters with the supernatural alongside hair-raising fictions. Lifting the veil between the living and the dead, Winterson spirits us away to a haunted estate that ensnares a nomadic young couple in its own dark past, a staged immersive ghost tour gone awry, a West Village séance that threatens the bounds between AI and reality, and a vacation home in the metaverse where a widow visits an improved version of her deceased husband. Gloriously gothic and unnervingly contemporary, Winterson examines grief, revenge, and the myriad ways in which technology can disrupt the boundary between life and death.
322 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2023
278 people are currently reading
3469 people want to read
About the author
Jeanette Winterson
124 books7,674 followersNovelist Jeanette Winterson was born in Manchester, England in 1959. She was adopted and brought up in Accrington, Lancashire, in the north of England. Her strict Pentecostal Evangelist upbringing provides the background to her acclaimed first novel, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, published in 1985. She graduated from St Catherine's College, Oxford, and moved to London where she worked as an assistant editor at Pandora Press.
One of the most original voices in British fiction to emerge during the 1980s, Winterson was named as one of the 20 "Best of Young British Writers" in a promotion run jointly between the literary magazine Granta and the Book Marketing Council.
She adapted Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit for BBC television in 1990 and also wrote "Great Moments in Aviation," a television screenplay directed by Beeban Kidron for BBC2 in 1994. She is editor of a series of new editions of novels by Virginia Woolf published in the UK by Vintage. She is a regular contributor of reviews and articles to many newspapers and journals and has a regular column published in The Guardian. Her radio drama includes the play Text Message, broadcast by BBC Radio in November 2001.
Winterson lives in Gloucestershire and London. Her work is published in 28 countries.
One of the most original voices in British fiction to emerge during the 1980s, Winterson was named as one of the 20 "Best of Young British Writers" in a promotion run jointly between the literary magazine Granta and the Book Marketing Council.
She adapted Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit for BBC television in 1990 and also wrote "Great Moments in Aviation," a television screenplay directed by Beeban Kidron for BBC2 in 1994. She is editor of a series of new editions of novels by Virginia Woolf published in the UK by Vintage. She is a regular contributor of reviews and articles to many newspapers and journals and has a regular column published in The Guardian. Her radio drama includes the play Text Message, broadcast by BBC Radio in November 2001.
Winterson lives in Gloucestershire and London. Her work is published in 28 countries.
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April 8, 2025
A lifetime of winding fairy tales and the fantastical with facts unstitched from time made it only natural for Winterson to approach stories of ghosts and death in an AI present. Now that I’ve returned to where I have a valid SIM card and internet access, I wanted to share some insights from Winterson having gotten to see her speak several times over the weekend at Hay Festival in Wales.
Winterson spoke about he experiences with ghosts and the history of ghost stories to propel a larger discussion around her most recent book, Night Side of the River, which I eagerly devoured when it came out this past autumn. For Winterson, it is only all too understandable that the past would somehow be contained within the present and the variety of ways we think about ghosts are manifestations of this. She even shared that she has her own ghost living in her house and he often frightens her girlfriend with loud thumps. ‘I know it’s a him because he’s needy,’ Winterson joked, ‘my ghost locked himself in the parlor the other day. And the door doesn’t lock so we had to take the whole apparatus off to get him out.’ Which all lead to intersecting with Winterson’s other current area of interest: the space of humans in an increasingly digital world. But what was most magical about it was…I finally got to meet my favorite author. I may have cried, but I got a hug.
After years of her books feeling like a comforting hug every time I read them, this was the best day ever. Well, on to the (original) review of this wonderful collection of stories, from which I got to listen to her read No Ghost Ghost Story.
‘There’s always a story, isn’t there? A story of somebody drowned, somebody murdered, somebody who died for love.’
Spending the days leading up to Halloween with Jeanette Winterson’s rather cozy ghost stories was a festive good time that made the season more enjoyable all around. Night Side of the River is a collection of ghost stories that vary from gothic tales of haunted houses and spectral visitations to stories that show modern technology as an expanding frontier for new forms of hauntings. These are all interspersed with insightful and intimate commentary by Winterson for a book where the thrills of these bite-sized narratives are also a vessel to examine ideas of life after death, love, loss and the significant literary qualities of the horror tradition itself. We see how the genre adapted to address the beliefs and existential anxieties of their times, making Winterson’s technology angle another step forward in its evolution. Many of her best themes find their way into these stories and while we only catch glimpses of the inimitable Winterson moments of prose practically flying off the page in astonishing aerobatics with the tales being more plot focused here, it all still charms and chills its way right into your heart. In short, Night Side of the River functions like a ghost tour through the season with Winterson as your knowledgeable guide, directing us to ponder the history and happenings while also ensuring a satisfying and spooky event.
‘She understands the advantage the Dead hold over the living; the Dead are not afraid.’
I’m quite smitten with these collections of seasonal stories Winterson has embarked on and in many ways this feels akin to her jolly Christmas Days: 12 Stories and 12 Feasts for 12 Days collection. While that book of stories certainly helped make the season bright for me last year, Night Side of the River led me through the dark corridors and stormy atmosphere of Halloween and really brought the holiday to life. I enjoyed the touch that there are 13 ghost stories here, with 13 being a rather spooky number befitting the season much like how the Christmas collection had a story for each of the 12 days of christmas. Sure, they aren’t the strongest of stories Winterson has ever written, but this is easily overlooked because the full effect of the fiction and non-fiction approach to analyzing hauntings is so devilishly pleasant. And while these aren’t always the scariest of stories—I like to term them “cozy horror” here, particularly as they usually have happy endings, though if you want some actually frightening and unsettling Winterson horror I highly recommend The Daylight Gate —that also seems beside the point. Besides, as Winterson says in conversation with The Guardian, ‘I don’t get scared of the dead, it’s the living that scare me. I’m not worried about ghosts – I’d rather spend the night in a haunted house than in Romania with Andrew Tate.’ Overall, the collection invites us to lean in and enjoy this tour through the realm of the dead, not shrink from it.
‘I used to believe that life and death were separate states. Now I know that things are liquid, porous; not solid at all.’
There is a genuine love for the season and the literary traditions that accompany it that is endlessly infectious and the introduction essay alone is worth the price of admission (you can read an abbreviated version of it HERE in The Paris Review). Winterson looks at the long history of ghost stories and the way they can work as commentary on the general attitudes of the times in which they were created and why they’ve long captivated readers. ‘In spite of Protestant theology, scientific materialism, or the plain fact that there is no empirical proof that anyone has come back from the dead,’ Winterson writes, ‘ghosts have not been evicted from their permanent ancestral home: our imagination.’ This is part of what makes this collection so heartfelt is that it isn’t trying to make any big claims on ghosts—though Winterson does include several stories of hauntings she has experienced—but to ask us to think about what is so interesting about the ideas behind them. She recently addressed this in an interview with NPR:
The book really holds the door open to invite imagination and possibility, and she provides an interesting look at how authors have long done so and helped continuously shape the genre. She writes about The Castle of Otranto in 1764, for example, and how it brought the Gothic atmospheres to ghost stories or Washington Irving’s 1820 tale, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, with ‘themes distinctive to the American Gothic – in particular, the undertow of the land itself, its bloodstained colonisation returning as a series of hauntings.’ Of course she mentions Edgar Allan Poe, as the gambling scene in The Passion with life or death stakes was written as an attempt to write a Poe-like story. She even provides a few of her favorites like M.R. James or Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black and one could make quite a spooky reading list from these pages.
I really love her approach to categorizing the stories here, although I do wish Devices—the technology-based stories—were moved to later in the collection as it isn’t the strongest start. But I am particularly fascinated by her choice to include stories addressing Places and People, a distinction on hauntings she addresses in the introduction. We often think of haunted houses traditionally as a haunted space that assails those who enter. However, she looks at authors like Nathaniel Hawthorne bringing in ‘the psychic fractures and guilty disturbances peculiar to the pioneering spirit’ in his fiction it begins to ask ‘are such hauntings from the outside or the inside?’ This is also present in The Turn of the Screw by Henry James where we must ask ‘Is the manipulation a direct haunting? Or does Bly feed off the haunted places in the heads of its inhabitants?’ and Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House certainly shows the house more as a mirror reflecting a haunted mind back on itself. So, as the names of these sections suggest, each addresses a different form of haunting. There is the method of ‘you are haunting yourself,’ as the narrator advises herself in the first tale, App-arition, or, as is theorized in The Door (one of my favorites) ‘Maybe that’s what a haunting is: time trapped in the wrong place…haunted place working as a memory store.’ It’s all quite fun.
As a side note, I've always the way Stephen Graham Jones offers two distinctions on haunted houses: the Stay Away Houses and the Hungry Houses. ‘Whereas Stay Away Houses just want to be left alone,’ Jones writes, ‘Hungry Houses aren't complete without people to digest for reasons or decades or centuries.’ In these stories Winterson tends towards the Hungry Houses, though this makes sense based on her influences in Poe, James and Jackson and the way a psychological haunting is better geared at examining the genre mechanics.
‘To honour you is to live. To love you is to live…I promised you I would live. Not a half-life, not a haunted life, not a shadowlife.’
Winterson also includes what she terms “hinge stories” that are printed back to back and offer two different perspectives on the same situation. I really enjoyed this approach to give a more dynamic look at the events but also to address differing ideas on ghosts in general. As one would expect with Winterson, we get some really lovely, philosophical ideas expressed. Such as thoughts on death as an interruption on life and questioning if that interrupts love.
There are many different depictions of what comes after death here, and a few humorous thoughts such as ‘Who gets to be reunited? Is the Afterlife polyamorous?’ I also enjoy how, for a collection that addresses haunted homes, it also considers the common phrase that death is a sort of “returning home”:
Through these stories we see a lot of love and loss, and I enjoy how these themes are the primary focus to examine. The spooky settings make excellent adornment for such investigations and it also asks us to consider what our own thoughts on death and ghosts says about us.
‘Truly, technology is going to affect our relationship with death. In theory, no one needs to die. In theory, anyone can be resurrected. We can be our own haunting.’
It seems only natural with Winterson that she would take the idea of haunting and look towards the future with it. AI is a topic of interest for Winterson, such as her collection of essays 12 Bytes: How We Got Here. Where We Might Go Next that look at how the technology might impact the way we love and interact or how it gives Mary Shelley’s ideas a new life as she played with in Frankissstein. ‘We have unexpectedly created an opportunity for the dead,’ she writes about concepts like the metaverse and apps that can mimic texting as if from someone you knew now gone and explores how a dead person living on in a virtual world isn’t unlike a haunting. ‘It seems to me like a perfect space for ghosts,’ she says and I will never look at online interactions the same again. Maybe I’m actually a ghost haunting you right now.
‘When i am climbing, i understand that gravity exists to protect us from our own lightness of being, just in the same way that time is what shields us from eternity.’
I have to say, Night Side of the River was an ideal was to spend spooky season and having new material from Winterson is always a joy. This is charming and insightful and I really enjoyed the way she plays with themes as a way of examining the literary implications and pushing the boundaries of them. She certainly makes you see the phrase "ghost in the wires" in a new light here too. A spooky treat that I can’t wait to revisit every October.
4/5
‘Does the door open when we are born, to let us into this life? we won't notice it again until we are done, until it's there at the top of the stairs, waiting for us, our entrance then, our exit now.’
Winterson spoke about he experiences with ghosts and the history of ghost stories to propel a larger discussion around her most recent book, Night Side of the River, which I eagerly devoured when it came out this past autumn. For Winterson, it is only all too understandable that the past would somehow be contained within the present and the variety of ways we think about ghosts are manifestations of this. She even shared that she has her own ghost living in her house and he often frightens her girlfriend with loud thumps. ‘I know it’s a him because he’s needy,’ Winterson joked, ‘my ghost locked himself in the parlor the other day. And the door doesn’t lock so we had to take the whole apparatus off to get him out.’ Which all lead to intersecting with Winterson’s other current area of interest: the space of humans in an increasingly digital world. But what was most magical about it was…I finally got to meet my favorite author. I may have cried, but I got a hug.
After years of her books feeling like a comforting hug every time I read them, this was the best day ever. Well, on to the (original) review of this wonderful collection of stories, from which I got to listen to her read No Ghost Ghost Story.
‘There’s always a story, isn’t there? A story of somebody drowned, somebody murdered, somebody who died for love.’
Spending the days leading up to Halloween with Jeanette Winterson’s rather cozy ghost stories was a festive good time that made the season more enjoyable all around. Night Side of the River is a collection of ghost stories that vary from gothic tales of haunted houses and spectral visitations to stories that show modern technology as an expanding frontier for new forms of hauntings. These are all interspersed with insightful and intimate commentary by Winterson for a book where the thrills of these bite-sized narratives are also a vessel to examine ideas of life after death, love, loss and the significant literary qualities of the horror tradition itself. We see how the genre adapted to address the beliefs and existential anxieties of their times, making Winterson’s technology angle another step forward in its evolution. Many of her best themes find their way into these stories and while we only catch glimpses of the inimitable Winterson moments of prose practically flying off the page in astonishing aerobatics with the tales being more plot focused here, it all still charms and chills its way right into your heart. In short, Night Side of the River functions like a ghost tour through the season with Winterson as your knowledgeable guide, directing us to ponder the history and happenings while also ensuring a satisfying and spooky event.
‘She understands the advantage the Dead hold over the living; the Dead are not afraid.’
I’m quite smitten with these collections of seasonal stories Winterson has embarked on and in many ways this feels akin to her jolly Christmas Days: 12 Stories and 12 Feasts for 12 Days collection. While that book of stories certainly helped make the season bright for me last year, Night Side of the River led me through the dark corridors and stormy atmosphere of Halloween and really brought the holiday to life. I enjoyed the touch that there are 13 ghost stories here, with 13 being a rather spooky number befitting the season much like how the Christmas collection had a story for each of the 12 days of christmas. Sure, they aren’t the strongest of stories Winterson has ever written, but this is easily overlooked because the full effect of the fiction and non-fiction approach to analyzing hauntings is so devilishly pleasant. And while these aren’t always the scariest of stories—I like to term them “cozy horror” here, particularly as they usually have happy endings, though if you want some actually frightening and unsettling Winterson horror I highly recommend The Daylight Gate —that also seems beside the point. Besides, as Winterson says in conversation with The Guardian, ‘I don’t get scared of the dead, it’s the living that scare me. I’m not worried about ghosts – I’d rather spend the night in a haunted house than in Romania with Andrew Tate.’ Overall, the collection invites us to lean in and enjoy this tour through the realm of the dead, not shrink from it.
‘I used to believe that life and death were separate states. Now I know that things are liquid, porous; not solid at all.’
There is a genuine love for the season and the literary traditions that accompany it that is endlessly infectious and the introduction essay alone is worth the price of admission (you can read an abbreviated version of it HERE in The Paris Review). Winterson looks at the long history of ghost stories and the way they can work as commentary on the general attitudes of the times in which they were created and why they’ve long captivated readers. ‘In spite of Protestant theology, scientific materialism, or the plain fact that there is no empirical proof that anyone has come back from the dead,’ Winterson writes, ‘ghosts have not been evicted from their permanent ancestral home: our imagination.’ This is part of what makes this collection so heartfelt is that it isn’t trying to make any big claims on ghosts—though Winterson does include several stories of hauntings she has experienced—but to ask us to think about what is so interesting about the ideas behind them. She recently addressed this in an interview with NPR:
‘I like to play with the form. I thought, well, why not break in as myself and talk about things that have happened to me that I can't explain away? So I was showing that I've got some skin in the game here, that these things have been part of my reality, and I don't understand it. And simply, I have to live with it. And, you know, we're in a world now that's always looking for easy answers, quick-fire solutions. Nobody likes to say, I don't know. And this is a book about saying, I don't know. And when it comes to the supernatural, I think that's the most honest answer.’
The book really holds the door open to invite imagination and possibility, and she provides an interesting look at how authors have long done so and helped continuously shape the genre. She writes about The Castle of Otranto in 1764, for example, and how it brought the Gothic atmospheres to ghost stories or Washington Irving’s 1820 tale, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, with ‘themes distinctive to the American Gothic – in particular, the undertow of the land itself, its bloodstained colonisation returning as a series of hauntings.’ Of course she mentions Edgar Allan Poe, as the gambling scene in The Passion with life or death stakes was written as an attempt to write a Poe-like story. She even provides a few of her favorites like M.R. James or Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black and one could make quite a spooky reading list from these pages.
I really love her approach to categorizing the stories here, although I do wish Devices—the technology-based stories—were moved to later in the collection as it isn’t the strongest start. But I am particularly fascinated by her choice to include stories addressing Places and People, a distinction on hauntings she addresses in the introduction. We often think of haunted houses traditionally as a haunted space that assails those who enter. However, she looks at authors like Nathaniel Hawthorne bringing in ‘the psychic fractures and guilty disturbances peculiar to the pioneering spirit’ in his fiction it begins to ask ‘are such hauntings from the outside or the inside?’ This is also present in The Turn of the Screw by Henry James where we must ask ‘Is the manipulation a direct haunting? Or does Bly feed off the haunted places in the heads of its inhabitants?’ and Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House certainly shows the house more as a mirror reflecting a haunted mind back on itself. So, as the names of these sections suggest, each addresses a different form of haunting. There is the method of ‘you are haunting yourself,’ as the narrator advises herself in the first tale, App-arition, or, as is theorized in The Door (one of my favorites) ‘Maybe that’s what a haunting is: time trapped in the wrong place…haunted place working as a memory store.’ It’s all quite fun.
As a side note, I've always the way Stephen Graham Jones offers two distinctions on haunted houses: the Stay Away Houses and the Hungry Houses. ‘Whereas Stay Away Houses just want to be left alone,’ Jones writes, ‘Hungry Houses aren't complete without people to digest for reasons or decades or centuries.’ In these stories Winterson tends towards the Hungry Houses, though this makes sense based on her influences in Poe, James and Jackson and the way a psychological haunting is better geared at examining the genre mechanics.
‘To honour you is to live. To love you is to live…I promised you I would live. Not a half-life, not a haunted life, not a shadowlife.’
Winterson also includes what she terms “hinge stories” that are printed back to back and offer two different perspectives on the same situation. I really enjoyed this approach to give a more dynamic look at the events but also to address differing ideas on ghosts in general. As one would expect with Winterson, we get some really lovely, philosophical ideas expressed. Such as thoughts on death as an interruption on life and questioning if that interrupts love.
‘Death, though, is a different reality. You are dissolved. Into what? Into time, into space, into the leaky container that is me, who will also dissolve into time, into space. No. 80 on the PeriodicTable, you are gone. But before I take up my role as the long-suffering one – the gold-band-wearing survivor who was always there and is still – I am aware that mercury makes possible the extraction of gold from poorer-quality ores. You brought out the best in me.’
There are many different depictions of what comes after death here, and a few humorous thoughts such as ‘Who gets to be reunited? Is the Afterlife polyamorous?’ I also enjoy how, for a collection that addresses haunted homes, it also considers the common phrase that death is a sort of “returning home”:
‘Home is inside us as well as outside us. An image we hold in our minds. Some people like to say that when we die we are going home. But it’s a strange home. We never visit it, until we do, and when we do, we never return.’
Through these stories we see a lot of love and loss, and I enjoy how these themes are the primary focus to examine. The spooky settings make excellent adornment for such investigations and it also asks us to consider what our own thoughts on death and ghosts says about us.
‘Truly, technology is going to affect our relationship with death. In theory, no one needs to die. In theory, anyone can be resurrected. We can be our own haunting.’
It seems only natural with Winterson that she would take the idea of haunting and look towards the future with it. AI is a topic of interest for Winterson, such as her collection of essays 12 Bytes: How We Got Here. Where We Might Go Next that look at how the technology might impact the way we love and interact or how it gives Mary Shelley’s ideas a new life as she played with in Frankissstein. ‘We have unexpectedly created an opportunity for the dead,’ she writes about concepts like the metaverse and apps that can mimic texting as if from someone you knew now gone and explores how a dead person living on in a virtual world isn’t unlike a haunting. ‘It seems to me like a perfect space for ghosts,’ she says and I will never look at online interactions the same again. Maybe I’m actually a ghost haunting you right now.
‘When i am climbing, i understand that gravity exists to protect us from our own lightness of being, just in the same way that time is what shields us from eternity.’
I have to say, Night Side of the River was an ideal was to spend spooky season and having new material from Winterson is always a joy. This is charming and insightful and I really enjoyed the way she plays with themes as a way of examining the literary implications and pushing the boundaries of them. She certainly makes you see the phrase "ghost in the wires" in a new light here too. A spooky treat that I can’t wait to revisit every October.
4/5
‘Does the door open when we are born, to let us into this life? we won't notice it again until we are done, until it's there at the top of the stairs, waiting for us, our entrance then, our exit now.’
August 31, 2023
A collection of ghost stories from Jeanette Winterson? Yes, please! But I think I expected this to be more... unexpected than it actually is. We didn't get off to the best of starts with an odd, rambling introduction that feels like an untouched first draft - and the early technology stories under the title of 'devices' were probably my least favourite.
There are so nicely creepy tales here and the section 'places' is one of the strongest based on haunted locations. But I guess I wanted to see Winterson do something new, innovative and modern with the genre and while her settings are contemporary, too many stories fit well-known models such as MR James and Henry James.
I also missed Winterson's lush writing - these are stylistically quite plain.
Definitely a collection worth reading for Halloween but don't expect this to break the mould.
Thanks to Vintage for an ARC via NetGalley
There are so nicely creepy tales here and the section 'places' is one of the strongest based on haunted locations. But I guess I wanted to see Winterson do something new, innovative and modern with the genre and while her settings are contemporary, too many stories fit well-known models such as MR James and Henry James.
I also missed Winterson's lush writing - these are stylistically quite plain.
Definitely a collection worth reading for Halloween but don't expect this to break the mould.
Thanks to Vintage for an ARC via NetGalley
October 19, 2023
Jeanette Winterson's Night Side of the River is a short story collection that delves into all types of ghosts and hauntings. Divided into four sections and interspersed with Winterson's own ghostly experiences, the stories presented here explore hauntings through Devices, Places, People, and Visitations.
I picked up Night Side of the River hoping for a book of frightening stories to enhance my Spooky Season reading, but I have to say that very few stories in this collection are scary. The stories are emotional, amusing, thought-provoking, and occasionally eerie, but not really scary.
Winterson returns frequently to themes of death (obviously) but also offers lots of poignant insights into grief and the healing process. The paired stories "No Ghost Ghost Story" and "The Undiscovered Country" are two of the strongest stories in the collection and they delve into these topics so movingly. The first story is from the perspective of a man grieving the loss of his husband, with the second story narrated by the deceased husband himself.
My other two favorites in the collection are also a paired set, "A Fur Coat" and "Boots," in which a young couple move to an isolated country estate for the winter and are terrorized by an unseen force that seeks to separate them. "A Fur Coat" is the only story in the collection that truly unsettled me, and the stories are steeped in eerie Gothic atmosphere. I only wished for a more macabre ending.
The weakest section for me was the Devices section, in which Winterson explores "ghosts in the machine." These stories are very reminiscent of Black Mirror, not really bringing anything new to the field of AI/technology hauntings. In fact, that applies to the stories in all of the sections: They feel like very standard ghost stories and don't really offer anything new or different to the genre. Some of them feel a bit rushed, a bit lacking in atmosphere, a bit messy. For example, the tense regularly shifts in the stories from present to past tense. I haven't read anything by Winterson before so this may just be a trademark of her prose, but I found the constant shifts jarring.
If you're looking for a not-too-scary collection of classic ghost stories, Night Side of the River might be a good choice for your seasonal reading. Thank you to Atlantic Monthly Press and NetGalley for the early reading opportunity.
I picked up Night Side of the River hoping for a book of frightening stories to enhance my Spooky Season reading, but I have to say that very few stories in this collection are scary. The stories are emotional, amusing, thought-provoking, and occasionally eerie, but not really scary.
Winterson returns frequently to themes of death (obviously) but also offers lots of poignant insights into grief and the healing process. The paired stories "No Ghost Ghost Story" and "The Undiscovered Country" are two of the strongest stories in the collection and they delve into these topics so movingly. The first story is from the perspective of a man grieving the loss of his husband, with the second story narrated by the deceased husband himself.
My other two favorites in the collection are also a paired set, "A Fur Coat" and "Boots," in which a young couple move to an isolated country estate for the winter and are terrorized by an unseen force that seeks to separate them. "A Fur Coat" is the only story in the collection that truly unsettled me, and the stories are steeped in eerie Gothic atmosphere. I only wished for a more macabre ending.
The weakest section for me was the Devices section, in which Winterson explores "ghosts in the machine." These stories are very reminiscent of Black Mirror, not really bringing anything new to the field of AI/technology hauntings. In fact, that applies to the stories in all of the sections: They feel like very standard ghost stories and don't really offer anything new or different to the genre. Some of them feel a bit rushed, a bit lacking in atmosphere, a bit messy. For example, the tense regularly shifts in the stories from present to past tense. I haven't read anything by Winterson before so this may just be a trademark of her prose, but I found the constant shifts jarring.
If you're looking for a not-too-scary collection of classic ghost stories, Night Side of the River might be a good choice for your seasonal reading. Thank you to Atlantic Monthly Press and NetGalley for the early reading opportunity.
October 17, 2023
2.5/5 stars, rounded up
With a seasoned name like Jeanette Winterson attached to it, I have to admit I went into this collection with high expectations. Winterson’s beautiful prose and keen eye for detail, combined with a take on one of my favourite tropes (literary ghost-stories!) was bound to be a hit. Unfortunately, this didn’t quite live up to my self-imposed hype. A scatter-brained introduction set the tone for what felt like somewhat of an inconsistent collection that lacked coherence beyond the theme of “ghosts”.
The collection opens with an opening word, in which Winterson explains her inspiration for this collection, and mentions many classics of the genre, without going into depth on any of it. To me, the introduction read like a first draft, namedropping some of its influences as if to make sure the reader will pick up on the references later, without adding any real new insight to them.
What follows are 13 ghoststories (in the loose sense of the word), clustered into 4 categories. Devices features Black-Mirror-esque stories about “ghosts in the machine” and the way technology has changed the meaning in which we can interact with a person after their passing. In Places, we visit the classic Haunted Houses and locations harbouring memories and restless souls, whereas in People it’s the people inside the walls carrying their hauntings, rather than the walls themselves. Finally in Visitations we follow journeys to significant places and events, mostly from the authors own life, where she came close to “haunting” encounters.
In between each section, there’s another personal essay or anecdote from Winterson life, the addition of which I probably liked the most. My biggest problem is that, outside these personal anecdotes, everything about this collection felt very familiar and “done before”. The many references to classics only emphasized that there was nothing new to be gained here for veterans of the gerne. I also missed the strong narrative voice that carried Winterson’s previous novels for me.
The two most memorable stories of the collection for me were No Ghost Ghost Story and The Undiscovered Country. Otherwise, this felt very middle-of-the-road. For a debut author, this would’ve been a promising start, but for a literary veteran like Winterson, I have to say that it was less than I expected.
Many thanks to Netgalley and Altantic Grove for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
With a seasoned name like Jeanette Winterson attached to it, I have to admit I went into this collection with high expectations. Winterson’s beautiful prose and keen eye for detail, combined with a take on one of my favourite tropes (literary ghost-stories!) was bound to be a hit. Unfortunately, this didn’t quite live up to my self-imposed hype. A scatter-brained introduction set the tone for what felt like somewhat of an inconsistent collection that lacked coherence beyond the theme of “ghosts”.
The collection opens with an opening word, in which Winterson explains her inspiration for this collection, and mentions many classics of the genre, without going into depth on any of it. To me, the introduction read like a first draft, namedropping some of its influences as if to make sure the reader will pick up on the references later, without adding any real new insight to them.
What follows are 13 ghoststories (in the loose sense of the word), clustered into 4 categories. Devices features Black-Mirror-esque stories about “ghosts in the machine” and the way technology has changed the meaning in which we can interact with a person after their passing. In Places, we visit the classic Haunted Houses and locations harbouring memories and restless souls, whereas in People it’s the people inside the walls carrying their hauntings, rather than the walls themselves. Finally in Visitations we follow journeys to significant places and events, mostly from the authors own life, where she came close to “haunting” encounters.
In between each section, there’s another personal essay or anecdote from Winterson life, the addition of which I probably liked the most. My biggest problem is that, outside these personal anecdotes, everything about this collection felt very familiar and “done before”. The many references to classics only emphasized that there was nothing new to be gained here for veterans of the gerne. I also missed the strong narrative voice that carried Winterson’s previous novels for me.
The two most memorable stories of the collection for me were No Ghost Ghost Story and The Undiscovered Country. Otherwise, this felt very middle-of-the-road. For a debut author, this would’ve been a promising start, but for a literary veteran like Winterson, I have to say that it was less than I expected.
Many thanks to Netgalley and Altantic Grove for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
July 15, 2023
4.5 stars
I was initially curious and even sceptical as to whether Ms Winterson could pull this off. This collection of supernatural ghostly stories seemed an altogether unconventional departure from her customary genre, which I have always enjoyed.
However, I was not disappointed. In fact, I was utterly enthralled, although reading the collection in bed, directly before sleep, is perhaps best avoided. I plan to purchase a copy and recommend this as a future read for our Book Club.
The only minor gripe I had was with the introduction. It felt more like a non-fiction lecture on the history of all things supernatural. I think the stories are strong enough to stand alone without this preface.
My thanks to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for granting this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I was initially curious and even sceptical as to whether Ms Winterson could pull this off. This collection of supernatural ghostly stories seemed an altogether unconventional departure from her customary genre, which I have always enjoyed.
However, I was not disappointed. In fact, I was utterly enthralled, although reading the collection in bed, directly before sleep, is perhaps best avoided. I plan to purchase a copy and recommend this as a future read for our Book Club.
The only minor gripe I had was with the introduction. It felt more like a non-fiction lecture on the history of all things supernatural. I think the stories are strong enough to stand alone without this preface.
My thanks to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for granting this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
December 4, 2023
This collection raised some interesting discussion and I enjoyed the essays in between each section. The conversation in both the stories and the essays about death, loss and reality we're thought-provoking and interesting. But for me, apart from a couple of exceptions most of the stories were fairly mediocre and didn't do much for me. Slightly disappointing overall.
This honest review is given with thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book.
This honest review is given with thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book.
October 13, 2023
A mixed bag. Standout stories: No Ghost Ghost Story and The Undiscovered Country.
October 20, 2023
I'm baffled as to why an acclaimed lesbian author wrote a collection that could just as easily have been titled "Unhappy Straight Couples With a Little Sprinkling of the Supernatural"?? Like even for straight people this has to feel a bit one-note. Even more irritating is the story with a non-binary character that she has repeatedly misgendered and invalidated, seemingly not for any reason? (as in, the offending character is not supposed to be read as a rude idiot or something, leaving me to assume it's Winterson's own rude politicking)
All that could be politely overlooked, but the stories themselves are also not anything special. The "devices" ones are as hamfisted and naive as a techbro pitching a startup, with plotlines that could be from the 90s. The rest varying degrees of fine, but no standouts I'll be thinking about later.
All that could be politely overlooked, but the stories themselves are also not anything special. The "devices" ones are as hamfisted and naive as a techbro pitching a startup, with plotlines that could be from the 90s. The rest varying degrees of fine, but no standouts I'll be thinking about later.
October 10, 2025
Toda una experiencia. Me ha gustado y me ha sorprendido todas las historias. Me ha recordado el estilo a Black Mirror. El mundo digital y el más allá se mezclan.
Además vas a encontrar narraciones espejo y giros muy bien llevados.
Lo recomiendo totalmente.
Además vas a encontrar narraciones espejo y giros muy bien llevados.
Lo recomiendo totalmente.
March 7, 2024
Días de fantasmas es sin duda la antología de historias de terror más original que he leído en tiempo y ha conseguido dejarme un gran poso meditativo durante días.
Homenajeando a la vez que emulando al terror clásico más gótico y victoriano, la inglesa Jeanette Winterson ha sabido intercalar lo tradicional con una brillante vuelta de tuerca que incorpora los avances tecnológicos que exponencialmente nos asolan en las últimas décadas. Así, el mundo digital, el metaverso, la inteligencia artificial, se transforman en meros vehículos conductores para que los fantasmas nos aborden. Siempre he creído que los humanos somos seres totalmente adaptativos al entorno, lo que jamás me había planteado es que también lo fuésemos a ser tras la muerte.
Trece exquisitas historias llenas de un estilo directo y cotidiano en las cuales la autora, intercala también su yo más personal mediante vivencias o reflexiones propias de corte sobrenatural. Clasificadas en cuatro bloques según sus temáticas: Dispositivos, Lugares, Personas y Apariciones, estos relatos os dejarán boquiabiertos acarreando una profunda reflexión por detrás, ¿estamos todos abocados a un futuro ultra físico donde la forma no importe y no seamos más que entes en un universo virtual? ¿Nos transforma ello en fantasmas, no es esta inmaterialidad su concepto base? Hacía qué umbrales nos dirigimos, no es algo conocido todavía, pero desde luego, a mí me aterra más que el peor de los fantasmas.
“Quizá estemos avanzando inexorablemente hacia la vida y el mundo inmateriales que, según dicen los creyentes, son la verdad suprema. Esta vez no tendremos que morir para alcanzarlo: nos introduciremos en el metaverso.”
Homenajeando a la vez que emulando al terror clásico más gótico y victoriano, la inglesa Jeanette Winterson ha sabido intercalar lo tradicional con una brillante vuelta de tuerca que incorpora los avances tecnológicos que exponencialmente nos asolan en las últimas décadas. Así, el mundo digital, el metaverso, la inteligencia artificial, se transforman en meros vehículos conductores para que los fantasmas nos aborden. Siempre he creído que los humanos somos seres totalmente adaptativos al entorno, lo que jamás me había planteado es que también lo fuésemos a ser tras la muerte.
Trece exquisitas historias llenas de un estilo directo y cotidiano en las cuales la autora, intercala también su yo más personal mediante vivencias o reflexiones propias de corte sobrenatural. Clasificadas en cuatro bloques según sus temáticas: Dispositivos, Lugares, Personas y Apariciones, estos relatos os dejarán boquiabiertos acarreando una profunda reflexión por detrás, ¿estamos todos abocados a un futuro ultra físico donde la forma no importe y no seamos más que entes en un universo virtual? ¿Nos transforma ello en fantasmas, no es esta inmaterialidad su concepto base? Hacía qué umbrales nos dirigimos, no es algo conocido todavía, pero desde luego, a mí me aterra más que el peor de los fantasmas.
“Quizá estemos avanzando inexorablemente hacia la vida y el mundo inmateriales que, según dicen los creyentes, son la verdad suprema. Esta vez no tendremos que morir para alcanzarlo: nos introduciremos en el metaverso.”
October 2, 2023
Hier hou ik echt van. Dit is een verhalenbundel over spoken, met voorafgaand een inleiding, opgedeeld in verschillende thema’s.
De inleiding is superverhelderend en laat precies zien wat Jeanette Winterson interessant vindt en waarom ze deze verhalen heeft geschreven. Het is precies de goede lengte dat het interessant blijft en dat je er wat van opsteekt.
Jeanette Winterson wilde vanuit de thema’s de verhalen opzetten. Een voorbeeld is plekken, waar de locatie een belangrijke rol speelt, zoals een kasteel of oud huis. Een ander voorbeeld is mensen, en dan hangt het verhaal rondom bijvoorbeeld een skiër die nooit is teruggevonden. De thema’s zijn goed gekozen en vooral ‘apparaten’ sprak mij erg aan. Dit gaat over geesten en spoken in een digitale wereld. Een van de beste verhalen was voor mij ook het verhaal dat er iemand dood was, die doorleefde via een telefoon. De achtergebleven weduwe kon met hem bellen en mailen. Dit verhaal was ook eng en daar hou ik van.
Een ander thema was ‘plekken’ met onder andere de verhalen Bontjas en Laarzen. Deze speelden zich af in een oud groot huis waarvan de eigenaar al een tijdje dood is. Deze verhalen waren ook goed eng. Ze waren hetzelfde, maar dan vanuit een ander perspectief en met een ander einde.
Er waren ook verhalen die minder eng waren opgezet maar meer onderzoekend met wat er allemaal kan gebeuren. Of verhalen over paranormale gebeurtenissen die JW zelf heeft meegemaakt. Heel knap hoe ook elke de schrijfstijl anders is als een hoofdpersonage anders is. Echt top!
De inleiding is superverhelderend en laat precies zien wat Jeanette Winterson interessant vindt en waarom ze deze verhalen heeft geschreven. Het is precies de goede lengte dat het interessant blijft en dat je er wat van opsteekt.
Jeanette Winterson wilde vanuit de thema’s de verhalen opzetten. Een voorbeeld is plekken, waar de locatie een belangrijke rol speelt, zoals een kasteel of oud huis. Een ander voorbeeld is mensen, en dan hangt het verhaal rondom bijvoorbeeld een skiër die nooit is teruggevonden. De thema’s zijn goed gekozen en vooral ‘apparaten’ sprak mij erg aan. Dit gaat over geesten en spoken in een digitale wereld. Een van de beste verhalen was voor mij ook het verhaal dat er iemand dood was, die doorleefde via een telefoon. De achtergebleven weduwe kon met hem bellen en mailen. Dit verhaal was ook eng en daar hou ik van.
Een ander thema was ‘plekken’ met onder andere de verhalen Bontjas en Laarzen. Deze speelden zich af in een oud groot huis waarvan de eigenaar al een tijdje dood is. Deze verhalen waren ook goed eng. Ze waren hetzelfde, maar dan vanuit een ander perspectief en met een ander einde.
Er waren ook verhalen die minder eng waren opgezet maar meer onderzoekend met wat er allemaal kan gebeuren. Of verhalen over paranormale gebeurtenissen die JW zelf heeft meegemaakt. Heel knap hoe ook elke de schrijfstijl anders is als een hoofdpersonage anders is. Echt top!
October 21, 2025
Aaah, dear Jeanette Winterson, the writer who believes in ghosts and writes about ghosts. Beautifully. I love her prose and her approach towards telling her personal stories. I would love to spend some time with her in front of a fire and tell ghost stories.
"Night Side of the River" is an exploration of what it means to live in the presence of the unseen. Sometimes it's haunting, sometimes it's tender. It's a ghost story collection that's a lot about love, grief, friendship. Winterson reimagines the supernatural as an extension of our lives. The collection mixes short stories with personal interludes (four, one for each part of the collection) in which she reflects on her own experiences with death and the paranormal. These texts anchor the book in her own experiences, so it becomes an interplay between memoir and fiction.
Winterson's style is clear, sometimes restrained, elliptical, but always precise. The prose is economical, but not without poetry and emotional charge. I didn't find the stories scary (some were disturbing in other ways, though), but she's more interested in the atmosphere, the liminal spaces where reality blurs, and the emotional reactions of people to the supernatural. To me, the central focus was connection - between people, between people and the spaces they inhabit, connection to their memories and sometimes to their trauma. The ghosts here are generally not intruders, but continuations.
"App-arition", the text that opens the collection, focuses on technology as it becomes a new spirit world, a medium that refuses to let the dead go. It's chilling and almost satirical, and one of my favorite stories in the book. Another standout is "A Fur Coat", which has a gothic vibe, being set in a decaying house where creepy things had happened in the past. Its companion piece, "Boots", continues the story's mythology and is deeply disturbing. "The Door" was another of my favorites, because it connects two strangely similar love stories across centuries. "Night Side of the River", which closes the collection, is the most hauntingly cinematic story.
This is not a collection for those who want to be scared, they're simply not that kind of ghost stories. It's more like an exploration of what it means to be haunted by different things (ghosts, but also memories and trauma), with a prose that moves easily between realism and speculative fiction, including futuristic elements. I've had fun with it, even when some of the texts triggered me.
"Night Side of the River" is an exploration of what it means to live in the presence of the unseen. Sometimes it's haunting, sometimes it's tender. It's a ghost story collection that's a lot about love, grief, friendship. Winterson reimagines the supernatural as an extension of our lives. The collection mixes short stories with personal interludes (four, one for each part of the collection) in which she reflects on her own experiences with death and the paranormal. These texts anchor the book in her own experiences, so it becomes an interplay between memoir and fiction.
Winterson's style is clear, sometimes restrained, elliptical, but always precise. The prose is economical, but not without poetry and emotional charge. I didn't find the stories scary (some were disturbing in other ways, though), but she's more interested in the atmosphere, the liminal spaces where reality blurs, and the emotional reactions of people to the supernatural. To me, the central focus was connection - between people, between people and the spaces they inhabit, connection to their memories and sometimes to their trauma. The ghosts here are generally not intruders, but continuations.
"App-arition", the text that opens the collection, focuses on technology as it becomes a new spirit world, a medium that refuses to let the dead go. It's chilling and almost satirical, and one of my favorite stories in the book. Another standout is "A Fur Coat", which has a gothic vibe, being set in a decaying house where creepy things had happened in the past. Its companion piece, "Boots", continues the story's mythology and is deeply disturbing. "The Door" was another of my favorites, because it connects two strangely similar love stories across centuries. "Night Side of the River", which closes the collection, is the most hauntingly cinematic story.
This is not a collection for those who want to be scared, they're simply not that kind of ghost stories. It's more like an exploration of what it means to be haunted by different things (ghosts, but also memories and trauma), with a prose that moves easily between realism and speculative fiction, including futuristic elements. I've had fun with it, even when some of the texts triggered me.
July 21, 2025
Nuevamente leer a esta autora ha sido un total acierto.
Una antología que he disfrutado profundamente como amante de este tipo de historias, me ha encantado el enfoque y la distribución del libro.
Nos sumerge inicialmente con una introducción de la temática, y luego nos adentramos a los relatos y a capítulos en los que nos cuenta situaciones personales de su relación con lo sobrenatural.
Me ha encantado como aborda de manera multidimensional la muerte, en todos los relatos vemos reflejada la sociedad actual, percibí melancolía en las historias de manera constante, no son relatos que den miedo, mantienen una atmósfera, oscura y como dije melancólica, pero el terror queda entre líneas, en susurros, en los pasillos y escenarios por los que nos hace transitar y ser testigos, muchas veces es interno, muy personal.
Con un estilo propio aborda el tópico de fantasmas desde un gótico contemporáneo, en el que veremos como algunos elementos clásicos se funden muy bien con marcadas características de esta sociedad y era digital .
Desde aplicaciones tecnológicas hasta apariciones la autora nos entrega una muy buena antología que aborda temas actuales a través de lo sobrenatural y que disfrute de principio a fin.
Una antología que he disfrutado profundamente como amante de este tipo de historias, me ha encantado el enfoque y la distribución del libro.
Nos sumerge inicialmente con una introducción de la temática, y luego nos adentramos a los relatos y a capítulos en los que nos cuenta situaciones personales de su relación con lo sobrenatural.
Me ha encantado como aborda de manera multidimensional la muerte, en todos los relatos vemos reflejada la sociedad actual, percibí melancolía en las historias de manera constante, no son relatos que den miedo, mantienen una atmósfera, oscura y como dije melancólica, pero el terror queda entre líneas, en susurros, en los pasillos y escenarios por los que nos hace transitar y ser testigos, muchas veces es interno, muy personal.
Con un estilo propio aborda el tópico de fantasmas desde un gótico contemporáneo, en el que veremos como algunos elementos clásicos se funden muy bien con marcadas características de esta sociedad y era digital .
Desde aplicaciones tecnológicas hasta apariciones la autora nos entrega una muy buena antología que aborda temas actuales a través de lo sobrenatural y que disfrute de principio a fin.
October 13, 2023
I'm a huge fan of Winterson's writing, but she has such a stylistic range that I never know what I'm getting until I begin reading. I'm almost always pleased with what I find. Winterson's Night Side of the River is a collection of "horror" stories. I put the quotation marks there because rather than having a goal of creating terror, Winterson uses the genre to explore ideas: for example, the way AI is changing the meaning of death or the different ways the living and the dead may perceive the end of a life. There were some good chills along the way, but I most appreciated this collection because it made me think about my own ephemerality in a way that went beyond the usual concerns about one's own mortality.
If you like horror and/or you like Winterson, you'll find this book provides unexpected delights. I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own.
If you like horror and/or you like Winterson, you'll find this book provides unexpected delights. I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own.
November 2, 2023
3.5
I had no intention of reading this book, despite my admiration for the author and my love of her prose, because I am a weakling when it comes to ghost stories.
However, I bought the book anyway; it’s a Winterson book with a beautiful title and cover, I could not resist. And I’m glad I did; these ghosts, with a few exceptions, are not so sinister, but are more strange. I loved the first section of the book about ghosts and technology; each of those stories are magnificent. The more traditional stories I was not so keen on; winterson is as far from a traditional writer as one can be, and these felt so…normal? Un-winterson like. Even the gorgeous, illuminating prose was absent in favor of a more straightforward style.
I had no intention of reading this book, despite my admiration for the author and my love of her prose, because I am a weakling when it comes to ghost stories.
However, I bought the book anyway; it’s a Winterson book with a beautiful title and cover, I could not resist. And I’m glad I did; these ghosts, with a few exceptions, are not so sinister, but are more strange. I loved the first section of the book about ghosts and technology; each of those stories are magnificent. The more traditional stories I was not so keen on; winterson is as far from a traditional writer as one can be, and these felt so…normal? Un-winterson like. Even the gorgeous, illuminating prose was absent in favor of a more straightforward style.
November 2, 2025
4.5 stars. Certain stories in this collection were 5 stars for sure. I really enjoyed reading this, it was multifaceted; while certain parts were genuinely scary (looking at you, Edwin), there were so many beautiful and poignant moments. This is truly a treatise on love, grief, life and death, and I enjoyed the ambitious stories about ghosts and technology together, very unique and well written.
July 10, 2023
thanks to edelweiss and atlantic monthly press for providing an arc!
well folks, winterson has DONE IT AGAIN. one of my all-time favorite authors is returning this october with a stunning, haunting collection of short horror stories - a genre i have long hoped to see her explore again after The Daylight Gate and even her holiday-themed horror offerings in Christmas Days: 12 Stories and 12 Feasts for 12 Days. rest assured she does not disappoint! i am so grateful and feel so lucky to have been able to snag an arc copy of this before it comes out, and i will certainly be buying a physical copy when it's released so i can properly highlight all of my favorite lines.
as usual, the prose shines here with winterson's typical blend of humor and gut-wrenching lines about death and love. it's interesting to read this after reading her previous offerings, because you can definitely see how her style and what she's interested in writing about has changed over the years. while i'm not personally super interested in ai/the metaverse, i was fascinated by how she blended these concepts with musings on death and hauntings. overall, her style feels matured and settled; while previous books cemented what her signature style actually was, here we get to see some more of the experimentation she's been doing lately and it is a delight. and, of course, it's extra special as it's the first book she's released since i discovered her (which i can't mention without giving a shoutout to s.penkevich, who introduced me to her work) and became completely obsessed with her writing.
of course the stories are amazing, but honestly i find that some of the real gems here are the introduction and the JW interludes between each section, which are short nonfiction pieces winterson has written about her personal experience with the supernatural. always a fan of her nonfiction work, i found these were a treat to read and perfect for finishing off each section. i also loved how cohesive everything felt. concepts and certain sentences repeat across stories, stories follow and fictionalize their nonfiction counterparts, and there are two sections that feature linked stories, one following the other and telling it from the pov of the other main character. (these stories are a fur coat/boots and no ghost ghost story/the undiscovered country - and they also happen to be four of my absolute favorites in the collection)
this is an eerie, contemplative, gorgeous collection that i would highly recommend to any fans of winterson or fans of horror in general. in particular, my favorite sections were places and people and my favorite stories are listed below!
individual ratings:
DEVICES
app-arition - "be calm, bella. this is your haunting, not his. you are haunting yourself." 4.5/5
the old house at home - "when she kisses me, it's like leaning over a well. when she takes my hand, it is to pull me down the well." 3/5
ghost in the machine - "read most ghost stories and the dead are mean. that's why they return - to make life hell for the living." 2.5/5
PLACES
the spare room - "i am going through the motions of a real life, but my life is still caught on the hook of a man who doesn't love me." 3.5/5
a fur coat - "jonny worked as a juggler. max was a thief. both had hands that flashed quicker than thought, and patter as fast-acting as ketamine." 5/5
boots - "they had always been enough for each other, and now he was elsewhere, she was sure of that, but she didn't know where that elsewhere was." 5/5
the door - "does the door open when we are born, to let us into this life? we won't notice it again until we are done, until it's there at the top of the stairs, waiting for us, our entrance then, our exit now." 4.5/5
PEOPLE
no ghost ghost story - "every second, someone dying is promising to come back from the dead. every hour, waiting for it to happen, someone living notches up another hour lost." 5/5
the undiscovered country - "letting go of coherence is uncomfortable. any story is better than no story. for a while i had no story." 5/5
canterville and cock - "'i admit that is for your entertainment,' i said. 'but can you tell what is an illusion and what is real?'" 4.5/5
VISITATIONS
thin air - "when i am climbing, i understand that gravity exists to protect us from our own lightness of being, just in the same way that time is what shields us from eternity." 3/5
fountain with lions - "removed. what matters is gone. the body becomes an effigy. how hard it is to let go." 3.5/5
night side of the river - "this is the sleep from which there is no waking. yet, i must stay awake. i must not let go. i must remember my name. say your name. again. again. again." 3/5
well folks, winterson has DONE IT AGAIN. one of my all-time favorite authors is returning this october with a stunning, haunting collection of short horror stories - a genre i have long hoped to see her explore again after The Daylight Gate and even her holiday-themed horror offerings in Christmas Days: 12 Stories and 12 Feasts for 12 Days. rest assured she does not disappoint! i am so grateful and feel so lucky to have been able to snag an arc copy of this before it comes out, and i will certainly be buying a physical copy when it's released so i can properly highlight all of my favorite lines.
as usual, the prose shines here with winterson's typical blend of humor and gut-wrenching lines about death and love. it's interesting to read this after reading her previous offerings, because you can definitely see how her style and what she's interested in writing about has changed over the years. while i'm not personally super interested in ai/the metaverse, i was fascinated by how she blended these concepts with musings on death and hauntings. overall, her style feels matured and settled; while previous books cemented what her signature style actually was, here we get to see some more of the experimentation she's been doing lately and it is a delight. and, of course, it's extra special as it's the first book she's released since i discovered her (which i can't mention without giving a shoutout to s.penkevich, who introduced me to her work) and became completely obsessed with her writing.
of course the stories are amazing, but honestly i find that some of the real gems here are the introduction and the JW interludes between each section, which are short nonfiction pieces winterson has written about her personal experience with the supernatural. always a fan of her nonfiction work, i found these were a treat to read and perfect for finishing off each section. i also loved how cohesive everything felt. concepts and certain sentences repeat across stories, stories follow and fictionalize their nonfiction counterparts, and there are two sections that feature linked stories, one following the other and telling it from the pov of the other main character. (these stories are a fur coat/boots and no ghost ghost story/the undiscovered country - and they also happen to be four of my absolute favorites in the collection)
this is an eerie, contemplative, gorgeous collection that i would highly recommend to any fans of winterson or fans of horror in general. in particular, my favorite sections were places and people and my favorite stories are listed below!
individual ratings:
DEVICES
app-arition - "be calm, bella. this is your haunting, not his. you are haunting yourself." 4.5/5
the old house at home - "when she kisses me, it's like leaning over a well. when she takes my hand, it is to pull me down the well." 3/5
ghost in the machine - "read most ghost stories and the dead are mean. that's why they return - to make life hell for the living." 2.5/5
PLACES
the spare room - "i am going through the motions of a real life, but my life is still caught on the hook of a man who doesn't love me." 3.5/5
a fur coat - "jonny worked as a juggler. max was a thief. both had hands that flashed quicker than thought, and patter as fast-acting as ketamine." 5/5
boots - "they had always been enough for each other, and now he was elsewhere, she was sure of that, but she didn't know where that elsewhere was." 5/5
the door - "does the door open when we are born, to let us into this life? we won't notice it again until we are done, until it's there at the top of the stairs, waiting for us, our entrance then, our exit now." 4.5/5
PEOPLE
no ghost ghost story - "every second, someone dying is promising to come back from the dead. every hour, waiting for it to happen, someone living notches up another hour lost." 5/5
the undiscovered country - "letting go of coherence is uncomfortable. any story is better than no story. for a while i had no story." 5/5
canterville and cock - "'i admit that is for your entertainment,' i said. 'but can you tell what is an illusion and what is real?'" 4.5/5
VISITATIONS
thin air - "when i am climbing, i understand that gravity exists to protect us from our own lightness of being, just in the same way that time is what shields us from eternity." 3/5
fountain with lions - "removed. what matters is gone. the body becomes an effigy. how hard it is to let go." 3.5/5
night side of the river - "this is the sleep from which there is no waking. yet, i must stay awake. i must not let go. i must remember my name. say your name. again. again. again." 3/5
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March 7, 2024RTC
February 11, 2025
No sabía nada de este libro hasta que vi que lo analizarían en un círculo de lectura... ¡Y vaya sorpresa!
Esta colección de cuentos inicia con un impresionante resumen, a cargo de la propia autora, de las historias de fantasmas (texto que, sin duda, utilizaré en mis cursos). Luego, presenta los cuentos en cuatro grandes apartados --DISPOSITIVOS, LUGARES, PERSONAS y APARICIONES--, siendo el primero mi favorito, pues explora lo fantasmagórico de las nuevas tecnologías. "El significado de estar "vivo" irá más allá de lo meramente biológico. El significado de estar "muerto" corresponderá a un estado temporal. ¿Y el de "fantasma"? Quizá sea el de alguien que decide no volver a descargarse en un "yo" físico. Nos comunicaremos con ese tipo de entes a través de una interfaz cerebro-máquina, un chip implantado en el cerebro. Es la versión moderna de la telepatía. Una aparición poshumana". Por si fuera poco, al final de cada apartado la autora reflexiona sobre lo que la inspiró a escribir esos cuentos. Ahora mismo buscaré más libros de esta maravillosa autora inglesa.
Esta colección de cuentos inicia con un impresionante resumen, a cargo de la propia autora, de las historias de fantasmas (texto que, sin duda, utilizaré en mis cursos). Luego, presenta los cuentos en cuatro grandes apartados --DISPOSITIVOS, LUGARES, PERSONAS y APARICIONES--, siendo el primero mi favorito, pues explora lo fantasmagórico de las nuevas tecnologías. "El significado de estar "vivo" irá más allá de lo meramente biológico. El significado de estar "muerto" corresponderá a un estado temporal. ¿Y el de "fantasma"? Quizá sea el de alguien que decide no volver a descargarse en un "yo" físico. Nos comunicaremos con ese tipo de entes a través de una interfaz cerebro-máquina, un chip implantado en el cerebro. Es la versión moderna de la telepatía. Una aparición poshumana". Por si fuera poco, al final de cada apartado la autora reflexiona sobre lo que la inspiró a escribir esos cuentos. Ahora mismo buscaré más libros de esta maravillosa autora inglesa.
May 4, 2025
“O carte captivantă și care-ți dă fiori, având ca teme durerea, răzbunarea și modul în care tehnologia poate sfărâma granițele dintre viață și moarte.” – Sunday Express
👁️“Ochiul negru al fluviului” e una dintre acele cărți care nu doar că te prind, dar te și învăluie într-un soi de mister, care te face să citești fără oprire. Mă așteptam la o carte cu fantome, dar am primit mult mai mult: o reflecție profundă despre ceea ce ne urmărește din interior și din exterior.
🕯️Este un volum de povestiri cu tentă supranaturală, dar cu rădăcini adânci în realitatea contemporană: iubire, pierdere, răzbunare, amintiri care refuză să moară. Jeanette Winterson scrie cu un rafinament tulburător: gotic, dar în același timp modern. Fiecare poveste are un aer poetic, de avertisment blând.
🖤Ce m-a cucerit complet a fost stilul ei de scriere elegant, lucid, dar plin de empatie. Nu e horror gratuit, ci o introspecție despre ce înseamnă să rămâi blocat între lumi, între decizii, între iubiri.
🕯️Povestirile mele preferate au fost:
* Poveste cu stafii fără stafii
* O țară încă nedescoperită
* O haină de blană
* Bocanci
* Fântâna cu lei
* Ap-ariție
* Ochiul negru al fluviului
👁️M-a tulburat, m-a impresionat și m-a emoționat până la lacrimi. Cu siguranță voi mai citi cărți scrise de Jeanette Winterson (deja mi-am adăugat pe Goodreads “Scris pe trup”). Această autoare are o sensibilitate care se simte în fiecare cuvânt. Vă recomand cu drag acest volum de povestiri.❤️
👁️“Ochiul negru al fluviului” e una dintre acele cărți care nu doar că te prind, dar te și învăluie într-un soi de mister, care te face să citești fără oprire. Mă așteptam la o carte cu fantome, dar am primit mult mai mult: o reflecție profundă despre ceea ce ne urmărește din interior și din exterior.
🕯️Este un volum de povestiri cu tentă supranaturală, dar cu rădăcini adânci în realitatea contemporană: iubire, pierdere, răzbunare, amintiri care refuză să moară. Jeanette Winterson scrie cu un rafinament tulburător: gotic, dar în același timp modern. Fiecare poveste are un aer poetic, de avertisment blând.
🖤Ce m-a cucerit complet a fost stilul ei de scriere elegant, lucid, dar plin de empatie. Nu e horror gratuit, ci o introspecție despre ce înseamnă să rămâi blocat între lumi, între decizii, între iubiri.
🕯️Povestirile mele preferate au fost:
* Poveste cu stafii fără stafii
* O țară încă nedescoperită
* O haină de blană
* Bocanci
* Fântâna cu lei
* Ap-ariție
* Ochiul negru al fluviului
👁️M-a tulburat, m-a impresionat și m-a emoționat până la lacrimi. Cu siguranță voi mai citi cărți scrise de Jeanette Winterson (deja mi-am adăugat pe Goodreads “Scris pe trup”). Această autoare are o sensibilitate care se simte în fiecare cuvânt. Vă recomand cu drag acest volum de povestiri.❤️
January 1, 2024
An interesting collection but one I think best read spaced out over a few sittings as it started to feel a bit repetitive at points.
I think this was stronger towards the end, and "The Spare Room" also stood out as it was set in Winterson's own house. The tech section wasn't my favourite, though, as the concepts needed a bit more fleshing out. I also didn't mind the interludes when they leant more towards personal stories, but I didn't really care for the essay sections.
Overall solid but the stories I enjoyed the most were "The Spare Room," "The Undiscovered Country," "Canterville and Cock," "Thin Air" and "Fountain with Lions".
I think this was stronger towards the end, and "The Spare Room" also stood out as it was set in Winterson's own house. The tech section wasn't my favourite, though, as the concepts needed a bit more fleshing out. I also didn't mind the interludes when they leant more towards personal stories, but I didn't really care for the essay sections.
Overall solid but the stories I enjoyed the most were "The Spare Room," "The Undiscovered Country," "Canterville and Cock," "Thin Air" and "Fountain with Lions".
Read
June 5, 2024me declaro wintersista
August 23, 2024
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2.5 stars
October 29, 2023
There are only two reasons why this book should be rated anything less than 5 stars:
1. The intro rambles. Just skip it. You don’t need the history lesson.
2. Thin Air short story on page 253 is the exact same story as A Ghost Story on page 199 of her Christmas Days book released in 2022. Whose severe oversight was that??? No one else seems to have noticed/commented on that mistake, leading me to believe anyone here rating JW’s books less than 5 stars clearly can’t grasp the profound imagination and respect for the English language it takes to write the stories she writes. Only a real fan would have caught that dual publication!
This book left me in tears throughout multiple stories. My god this woman can write emotion, introspection, and abstract thought like no other. She deserves every bit of recognition she’s received since the 80s and I pray that one day I can thank her personally for how moving her voice has been.
Every single story is unique in its language, imagery, morals, you name it. How does she do that every time?? I’m amazed and I recommend this book of very short ghost stories to anyone with a heart and a mind.
1. The intro rambles. Just skip it. You don’t need the history lesson.
2. Thin Air short story on page 253 is the exact same story as A Ghost Story on page 199 of her Christmas Days book released in 2022. Whose severe oversight was that??? No one else seems to have noticed/commented on that mistake, leading me to believe anyone here rating JW’s books less than 5 stars clearly can’t grasp the profound imagination and respect for the English language it takes to write the stories she writes. Only a real fan would have caught that dual publication!
This book left me in tears throughout multiple stories. My god this woman can write emotion, introspection, and abstract thought like no other. She deserves every bit of recognition she’s received since the 80s and I pray that one day I can thank her personally for how moving her voice has been.
Every single story is unique in its language, imagery, morals, you name it. How does she do that every time?? I’m amazed and I recommend this book of very short ghost stories to anyone with a heart and a mind.
Want to read
October 6, 2025Incipit
Cappotto nero. Vestito nero. Cappello nero. Macchina nera.
Ti immagino con me. Cosa mi diresti?
Continua su IncipitMania
Cappotto nero. Vestito nero. Cappello nero. Macchina nera.
Ti immagino con me. Cosa mi diresti?
Continua su IncipitMania
November 19, 2023
"El pasado nunca muere. Los humanos sí. Pero ¿y luego qué?".
📖 'Días de fantasmas'
✍️ Jeanette Winterson
📅 2023
📚 Lumen
📄 293 páginas
🇬🇧🇪🇦 Laura Martín de Dios
Esta lectura ha llegado a mí gracias a la #masacritica de @babelioenespanol, y no he podido ser más afortunado. He descubierto a una autora con una prosa magnífica y un recopilatorio de historias de fantasmas que, pese a no ser lo que esperaba, me ha dejado muy buen sabor de boca.
El título 'Días de fantasmas' me anunciaba historias terroríficas, miedo y sobresaltos. Pero la lectura no me ha llevado por ese camino. Obviamente sí hay relatos inquietantes, oscuros y góticos que me han puesto la piel de gallina. Pero más allá de eso, en esta compilación, Winterson aprovecha para reflexionar sobre la muerte, sobre el duelo, sobre la vida que pasan a llevar los vivos que pierden a alguien y sobre la posible vida que pueden llevar, más allá, quienes se van.
Y lo hace encuadrando estos trece relatos en cuatro áreas temáticas. En el primer apartado, "Dispositivos", la autora reflexiona sobre la forma en la que la tecnología puede redefinir nuestra relación con la muerte. Aplicaciones móviles que sustituyen al ser querido fallecido y la aparición del metaverso como el mundo ideal en el que seguir vinculados a los fallecidos (o a sus avatares) son dos de los escenarios en los que Winterson sitúa a estos nuevos "fantasmas" del siglo XXI.
En el apartado "Lugares", la autora cede el protagonismo a casas encantadas y habitaciones malditas en las que todavía residen quienes, al morir, todavía no han podido abandonar el mundo real. Mientras, en la categoría de "Personas", encontramos mis dos relatos favoritos. Entrelazados, y a modo de espejo, el primer relato está narrado en primera persona por Simon, un chico que acaba de perder a su pareja. En un monólogo desgarrador, el protagonista relata sus primeros días de duelo. En el segundo relato, William, el fantasma del recién fallecido, relata los mismos hechos que Simon pero desde su perspectiva, como un fantasma que le sigue acompañando y cuidando aunque no le pueda ver. Preparad kleenex: estos dos relatos son tan brillantes como conmovedores.
Por último, la compilación se cierra con el apartado "Apariciones", en el que espectros que no han podido abandonar este mundo se presentan ante los vivos para transmitirles su mensaje o acompañarles hasta el más allá.
Entre categoría y categoría, Winterson intercala testimonios propios relacionados con los fantasmas y con sus experiencias cercanas a lo sobrenatural. Desconozco si son historias reales o ejercicios de autoficción. En cualquier caso, son brillantes y encajan a la perfección con los relatos de ficción a los que acompañan.
📖 'Días de fantasmas'
✍️ Jeanette Winterson
📅 2023
📚 Lumen
📄 293 páginas
🇬🇧🇪🇦 Laura Martín de Dios
Esta lectura ha llegado a mí gracias a la #masacritica de @babelioenespanol, y no he podido ser más afortunado. He descubierto a una autora con una prosa magnífica y un recopilatorio de historias de fantasmas que, pese a no ser lo que esperaba, me ha dejado muy buen sabor de boca.
El título 'Días de fantasmas' me anunciaba historias terroríficas, miedo y sobresaltos. Pero la lectura no me ha llevado por ese camino. Obviamente sí hay relatos inquietantes, oscuros y góticos que me han puesto la piel de gallina. Pero más allá de eso, en esta compilación, Winterson aprovecha para reflexionar sobre la muerte, sobre el duelo, sobre la vida que pasan a llevar los vivos que pierden a alguien y sobre la posible vida que pueden llevar, más allá, quienes se van.
Y lo hace encuadrando estos trece relatos en cuatro áreas temáticas. En el primer apartado, "Dispositivos", la autora reflexiona sobre la forma en la que la tecnología puede redefinir nuestra relación con la muerte. Aplicaciones móviles que sustituyen al ser querido fallecido y la aparición del metaverso como el mundo ideal en el que seguir vinculados a los fallecidos (o a sus avatares) son dos de los escenarios en los que Winterson sitúa a estos nuevos "fantasmas" del siglo XXI.
En el apartado "Lugares", la autora cede el protagonismo a casas encantadas y habitaciones malditas en las que todavía residen quienes, al morir, todavía no han podido abandonar el mundo real. Mientras, en la categoría de "Personas", encontramos mis dos relatos favoritos. Entrelazados, y a modo de espejo, el primer relato está narrado en primera persona por Simon, un chico que acaba de perder a su pareja. En un monólogo desgarrador, el protagonista relata sus primeros días de duelo. En el segundo relato, William, el fantasma del recién fallecido, relata los mismos hechos que Simon pero desde su perspectiva, como un fantasma que le sigue acompañando y cuidando aunque no le pueda ver. Preparad kleenex: estos dos relatos son tan brillantes como conmovedores.
Por último, la compilación se cierra con el apartado "Apariciones", en el que espectros que no han podido abandonar este mundo se presentan ante los vivos para transmitirles su mensaje o acompañarles hasta el más allá.
Entre categoría y categoría, Winterson intercala testimonios propios relacionados con los fantasmas y con sus experiencias cercanas a lo sobrenatural. Desconozco si son historias reales o ejercicios de autoficción. En cualquier caso, son brillantes y encajan a la perfección con los relatos de ficción a los que acompañan.
September 6, 2023
(3.75 stars) I have been drawn to Jeanette Winterson ever since reading her amazing little novel The Passion. When I saw this volume of ghost stories available on NetGalley, I had to have it. What I found were some spooky tales of varying quality, some set in modern times and some set as early as the 19th century. Winterson’s unique writing style is on display in developing characters and haunting situations that are memorable even in short form. My favorite was the first story, App- arition, a very modern tale, where a deceased man haunts his (now-happy) surviving wife with texts and phone calls and other contemporary communication methods. Winterson sees endless possibilities for ghosts in the metaverse, as avatars blur the line between real and non-real online. This would be a good book to read in October. Several of the stories were really chilling and I’m hard to scare.
Thanks to NetGalley and Atlantic Monthly Press for an e-ARC of this title in exchange for my honest review.
Thanks to NetGalley and Atlantic Monthly Press for an e-ARC of this title in exchange for my honest review.
August 23, 2023
Because I often enjoy Winterson's work, I kept reading to see if one story might deliver. I kept reading in vain. There might be an audience for these stories, but that audience does not include people who enjoy ghost stories. Or, at least, that's my take. These tales are almost completely devoid of the dark weirdness that, in my opinion, chills the soul. And, for anyone who has studied ghost stories or thought much about what ghosts due culturally, the essays will be either boring or irritating.
December 16, 2023
Jeanette Winterson never disappoints with her writing. Even though not all the stories in this anthology are 4-5 stars, but most of them had me spooked. This volume aims for more than just being spooky - it aims at humanising our demons and our hauntings. Most of the stories end in a positive note.
My favorites were “The Fur Coat” and “Boots”, and I enjoyed the “App-pirition” and “Ghost in the Machine” even if they were a bit predictable!
My favorites were “The Fur Coat” and “Boots”, and I enjoyed the “App-pirition” and “Ghost in the Machine” even if they were a bit predictable!
May 29, 2024
i didn’t like these stories. they were not scary and not very original and they were boring. the stories with the phone app / AI / metaverse concepts were basically exactly like already-existing episodes of black mirror except with a slightly paranormal element. i was bored by a lack of fear AND a lack of originality/engagement. and i rolled my eyes multiple times.
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