The Best Victorian Ghost Stories

by J. Sheridan Le Fanu, M. Grant Kellermeyer (Illustrations)

Ghostly coaches shuttling the mildewed cadavers of its ill-fated occupants; a young orphan being lured to a frosty death by a pale, little girl with a mangled shoulder; a man spends the night in a room with a fatal past; a restless ne'er-do-well recognizes his fiancee with her throat cut in a twilit vision; a beautiful woman is sold by her uncle to a corpse living beneath a church... These are the images that haunted their authors' brains and found their way into the Golden Age of the British ghost story... As industrial Britain steamed away from its feudal-agrarian past, a sense of self-deceit and insecurity - a lingering of violent potential and national shame - pervaded the collective unconscious of the world's preeminent empire. This psychological malaise manifested itself in the English ghost story, which saw its golden era in the Victorian Age. The unsettling works of Dickens, Gaskell, Blackwood, Hardy, Nesbit, Conan Doyle, M. R. James, Braddon, Broughton, Oliphant, Wells, and Le Fanu grace this brief homage to that unique literary era of elegance, mystique, and horror.

407 pages, Paperback

First published September 4, 2014

About the author

Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu was an Irish writer of Gothic tales and mystery novels. He was the leading ghost-story writer of the nineteenth century and was central to the development of the genre in the Victorian era. M.R. James described Le Fanu as "absolutely in the first rank as a writer of ghost stories". Three of his best-known works are Uncle Silas, Carmilla and The House by the Churchyard.

Reviews

[David Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an outstanding collection of atmospheric stories, featuring some of the best authors in horror fiction, and some authors better known for other genres. On the list there are the really well known heavy hitters like J S Lefanu,, M R James and Algernon Blackwood. Also in this collection are some really good offerings from Charles Dickens and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, taking leave from their usual genres to create some wonderful tales of woe. The sheer quality from every author is incredible, and it is hard to pick a favourite from this list. All that I can say is that if you like your horror with a gothic element, instead of / as well as blood soaked and extreme, check out this compilation. You may discover some new classic authors to look into yourself, perfect for passing a cold night in front of the fire, with the wind howling and the rain lashing at your windows...

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great collection of Victorian ghost stories. Very enjoyable.

Tales in this collection are:

Christmas Ghost Stories (An Excerpt) - Charles Dickens
The Red Room (The Ghost of Fear) - H. G. Wells
Nothing But the Truth - Rhoda Broughton
The Cold Embrace - Mary Elizabeth Braddon
The Old Nurse's Story - Elizabeth Gaskell
The Mystery of the Semi-Detached - E. Nesbit
Strange Disturbances in Aungier St. - J. Sheridan Le Fanu
To Be Read at Dusk - Charles Dickens
The Top Attic - Elliot O'Donnell
The Open Door - Mrs. Oliphant
The Superstitious Man's Story - Thomas Hardy
The Phantom Coach (The North Mail) - Amelia B. Edwards
Lost Hearts - M. R. James
Behold, it was a Dream! - Rhoda Broughton
The Kit-Bag - Algernon Blackwood
The Brown Hand - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Signal-Man - Charles Dickens
Man-Size in Marble - E. Nesbit
Schalken the Painter - J. Sheridan Le Fanu