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Gilded Nightmares – Timeless British Library Books
British Library Publishing Bewitched.
“Bewitched” is a short story by Edith Warton, first published in 1926 in the collection “Here and Beyond”. The stories include ghost stories, character studies and social dramas set in Brittany, New England, and Morocco. Along with “The Young Gentleman”, “Bewitched” shows clear Gothic leanings, especially in its emphasis on architecture and the gradual revealing of secrets.
Edith Wharton (1862 – 1937) was an American novelist, playwright, short story writer, and designer. She is famous for using her intimate knowledge of aristocratic New York society to authentically portray life during the Gilded Age. She was the first woman ever to win the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1921 and was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1996.
Edith Wharton (1862 – 1937) was an American novelist, playwright, short story writer, and designer. She is famous for using her intimate knowledge of aristocratic New York society to authentically portray life during the Gilded Age. She was the first woman ever to win the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1921 and was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1996.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1925
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About the author
Edith Wharton
1,459 books5,281 followersEdith Wharton emerged as one of America’s most insightful novelists, deftly exposing the tensions between societal expectation and personal desire through her vivid portrayals of upper-class life. Drawing from her deep familiarity with New York’s privileged “aristocracy,” she offered readers a keenly observed and piercingly honest vision of Gilded Age society.
Her work reached a milestone when she became the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, awarded for The Age of Innocence. This novel highlights the constraining rituals of 1870s New York society and remains a defining portrait of elegance laced with regret.
Wharton’s literary achievements span a wide canvas. The House of Mirth presents a tragic, vividly drawn character study of Lily Bart, navigating social expectations and the perils of genteel poverty in 1890s New York. In Ethan Frome, she explores rural hardship and emotional repression, contrasting sharply with her urban social dramas.
Her novella collection Old New York revisits the moral terrain of upper-class society, spanning decades and combining character studies with social commentary. Through these stories, she inevitably points back to themes and settings familiar from The Age of Innocence. Continuing her exploration of class and desire, The Glimpses of the Moon addresses marriage and social mobility in early 20th-century America. And in Summer, Wharton challenges societal norms with its rural setting and themes of sexual awakening and social inequality.
Beyond fiction, Wharton contributed compelling nonfiction and travel writing. The Decoration of Houses reflects her eye for design and architecture; Fighting France: From Dunkerque to Belfort presents a compelling account of her wartime observations. As editor of The Book of the Homeless, she curated a moving, international collaboration in support of war refugees.
Wharton’s influence extended beyond writing. She designed her own country estate, The Mount, a testament to her architectural sensibility and aesthetic vision. The Mount now stands as an educational museum celebrating her legacy.
Throughout her career, Wharton maintained friendships and artistic exchanges with luminaries such as Henry James, Sinclair Lewis, Jean Cocteau, André Gide, and Theodore Roosevelt—reflecting her status as a respected and connected cultural figure.
Her literary legacy also includes multiple Nobel Prize nominations, underscoring her international recognition. She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature more than once.
In sum, Edith Wharton remains celebrated for her unflinching, elegant prose, her psychological acuity, and her capacity to illuminate the unspoken constraints of society—from the glittering ballrooms of New York to quieter, more remote settings. Her wide-ranging work—novels, novellas, short stories, poetry, travel writing, essays—offers cultural insight, enduring emotional depth, and a piercing critique of the customs she both inhabited and dissected.
Her work reached a milestone when she became the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, awarded for The Age of Innocence. This novel highlights the constraining rituals of 1870s New York society and remains a defining portrait of elegance laced with regret.
Wharton’s literary achievements span a wide canvas. The House of Mirth presents a tragic, vividly drawn character study of Lily Bart, navigating social expectations and the perils of genteel poverty in 1890s New York. In Ethan Frome, she explores rural hardship and emotional repression, contrasting sharply with her urban social dramas.
Her novella collection Old New York revisits the moral terrain of upper-class society, spanning decades and combining character studies with social commentary. Through these stories, she inevitably points back to themes and settings familiar from The Age of Innocence. Continuing her exploration of class and desire, The Glimpses of the Moon addresses marriage and social mobility in early 20th-century America. And in Summer, Wharton challenges societal norms with its rural setting and themes of sexual awakening and social inequality.
Beyond fiction, Wharton contributed compelling nonfiction and travel writing. The Decoration of Houses reflects her eye for design and architecture; Fighting France: From Dunkerque to Belfort presents a compelling account of her wartime observations. As editor of The Book of the Homeless, she curated a moving, international collaboration in support of war refugees.
Wharton’s influence extended beyond writing. She designed her own country estate, The Mount, a testament to her architectural sensibility and aesthetic vision. The Mount now stands as an educational museum celebrating her legacy.
Throughout her career, Wharton maintained friendships and artistic exchanges with luminaries such as Henry James, Sinclair Lewis, Jean Cocteau, André Gide, and Theodore Roosevelt—reflecting her status as a respected and connected cultural figure.
Her literary legacy also includes multiple Nobel Prize nominations, underscoring her international recognition. She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature more than once.
In sum, Edith Wharton remains celebrated for her unflinching, elegant prose, her psychological acuity, and her capacity to illuminate the unspoken constraints of society—from the glittering ballrooms of New York to quieter, more remote settings. Her wide-ranging work—novels, novellas, short stories, poetry, travel writing, essays—offers cultural insight, enduring emotional depth, and a piercing critique of the customs she both inhabited and dissected.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews
January 19, 2023
This story put me in mind of the Salem Witch Trials because, while it operates on two levels, it might well just be about ignorance and a willingness to ascribe to the occult what is done by man. Superstition can be a very dangerous thing.
October 19, 2019
This was a great short story about a man wasting away. Has his old love come back into his life and what’s the circumstances with that?
It’s gothic and very atmospheric!
It’s gothic and very atmospheric!
September 8, 2018
Edith Wharton's 1926 story of a revenant disrupting a small community of long-suffering rural Americans is interesting because its metaphor (and all vampire stories are metaphors) is of lost desire's effects on otherwise satisfactory if not perfect conditions in the present.
Much American writing is about conformity. Things are as they are because so much is out of the control of the individual despite the widespread belief in individualism - false consciousness is what Americans do when it comes to claims about their own freedom.
In this case, the trigger for the story is that a young woman and a young man were separated by the former's stern father. She dies. He marries and builds a household. She returns from the grave and eventually the father has to do what the community requires and dispose of her as a revenant.
It is that simple but Wharton weaves a short story about human relationships that is suggestive of a complex of communitarian human relations that goes back far into the past. Ghosts come from the past.
The young man in question is a cypher. He is 'bewitched' - and the Christian world view here is not enormously different from that of a Transcarpathian peasant's. He is passive with a problem that has to be cured by the community with no blame attached to him.
His long-suffering wife accepts this as something that the community has to deal with. The 'community', led by the father and the pastor troop off in the snow as night falls. As for the revenant, it appears that she is only put to sleep finally with the death of another innocent.
April 1, 2020
I’m a big fan of Edith Wharton. I’ve enjoyed everything of hers I’ve read. I will confess this short story left me puzzled. Don’t get me wrong it is an excellent read, her characters and descriptions of people and things is first rate. My problem is other than a ghost story is she saying anything else? If not, it is still an entertaining read. If so, it passed me by. A ghost we have, a victim we have, a concerned community we have. But is this just a wandering sprit, a vampire, or some form of succubus? I just don’t now. It’s still a worthwhile read.
October 15, 2019
i enjoyed this short story. it's about a man meeting with the dead. He's wasting away but is it the result of these meetings?
April 24, 2020
A short and simple story about a man's dead love coming back, him wasting away because of it and the underlying tension/fight between what the community has to do v/s individualism.
My Rating - 3/5
My Rating - 3/5
January 18, 2023
I bought a couple of collections of Gothic short stories. I really don't know if I will be able to read many of them. I know I do not like modern horror at all. I thought the older Victorian Gothic might be better for me, but now I wonder. The only part of this story I found interesting was the ambiguity at the end. I think Wharton left enough clues that although there was assumed to be a ghost perhaps it was really a human phenomenon after all. That possibility was interesting to me. This story did have the same dark, gloomy atmosphere found in Ethan Frome.
October 15, 2019
Oh my goodness but I love David Tennant's voice, especially with spooky stories. This one is grand. Quite eerie with wonderful atmosphere.
October 11, 2025
4.25
Set in a bleak, snowbound corner of New England, Bewitched opens with three men—Orrin Bosworth, Deacon Hibben, and Sylvester Brand—summoned to the home of Saul Rutledge by his wife, Prudence. She fears Saul is having an affair with Ora Brand, a young woman who died over a year ago. The men are skeptical but intrigued, especially as Saul has been seen wandering toward the pond where Ora once lived.
As the story unfolds, Wharton reveals that Saul is indeed “bewitched”—drawn night after night down by that old shack on Lamer’s pond, seemingly under a supernatural compulsion. The tale culminates in a chilling confrontation between Saul and the spectral Ora, witnessed by the others, which leaves them shaken and uncertain whether they’ve seen a ghost or a man driven mad by guilt and longing.
Set in a bleak, snowbound corner of New England, Bewitched opens with three men—Orrin Bosworth, Deacon Hibben, and Sylvester Brand—summoned to the home of Saul Rutledge by his wife, Prudence. She fears Saul is having an affair with Ora Brand, a young woman who died over a year ago. The men are skeptical but intrigued, especially as Saul has been seen wandering toward the pond where Ora once lived.
As the story unfolds, Wharton reveals that Saul is indeed “bewitched”—drawn night after night down by that old shack on Lamer’s pond, seemingly under a supernatural compulsion. The tale culminates in a chilling confrontation between Saul and the spectral Ora, witnessed by the others, which leaves them shaken and uncertain whether they’ve seen a ghost or a man driven mad by guilt and longing.
March 1, 2021
A really nice ghost/vampire story from Edith Wharton. Gutsier than I expected it to be, stark and rural. I'm so used to Wharton's writing being both urban and urbane, this kinda shocked me with its starkness and rural setting and characters. Although she leaves herself an "out," the characters' acceptance of the supernatural was quite interesting. A case of a female author treading the line between female (explained) and male (unexplained, supernatural) Gothic. Also plays on the sexuality implicit in most vampire fiction, here again with the rural aplomb.
February 10, 2021
I have a tendency to look for unexpected twists in ghost stories, and with this one, I ended up reading one in where it didn’t exist (80% sure it didn’t, anyway). The abrupt ending made it all the easier for me to support my alternate view of events. Now having read a bunch of Wharton’s short stories, this problem with endings seems like a nervous tick with her. She writes 25 or 30 pages of story and then tries to wrap it up—land the plane—in one page. Not recommended.
May 8, 2022
I’m shocked the comments are calling this a ghost story. It’s NOT a ghost story. The husband was never being visited by the ghost of Aura But by her sister Venne… how do you think Venne got pneumonia?? By walking barefoot in the snow. This is a great story but I’m really confused how all the reviews completely missed the twist of the story and really thought the ghost of Aura was visiting him… I don’t feel like any of you actually read the story
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 14, 2020
Another David Tennant reading.
March 18, 2011
Verhext handelt davon wie ein verheirateter Mann sich nachts mit dem Geist einer alten Freundin trifft. Seine Ehefrau zitiert den Vater dieser Freundin Sylvester Brand (Uli Krohm), den Diakon des Ortes Diakon Hibben (Jochen Schröder) und Orrin Bosworth (warum auch immer der mit dabei war ist mir schleierhaft) zu sich nach Hause, um ihnen die Geschehnisse zu berichten. Die Männer sind neugierig und suchen den Ort der heimlichen Treffen auf und finden Fußspuren. Ein Schuss fällt.
Die Kurzgeschichte erschien 1926 unter dem Titel "Bewitched: A story of vampirism" in "Here and Beyond" zusammen mit Mary Pask: "A man meets Miss Mary Pask but then remembers she is dead." Die Geschichte kann beim Projekt Gutenberg nachgelesen werden.
Edith Newbold Jones Wharton (1862 - 1937) war eine amerikanische Schriftstellerin, die besonders dafür bekannt, war in ihren Werken die grausamen Exzesse der amerikanischen Aristokratie Anfang deszwanzigsten Jahrhunderts detailliert zu beschreiben. Ihre Geschichten widmen sich meist der gesellschaftlichen Status der Frau und dem moralischen Niedergang der gehobenen Schichten. Ihr Stil wird oft mit jenem ihres Freundes und Mentors Henry James verglichen. 1921 gewann sie für "Zeit der Unschuld" als erste Frau den Pulitzer Preis.
Mir persönlich gefiel die Geschichte nicht. Es liegt nicht an der Umsetzung, die ist wie immer auf höchstem Niveau mit hervorragenden Sprechern und stimmiger akustischer Untermalung. Es ist die Geschichte selber. Zum einen ist sie nicht schaurig. Zum anderen ist sie langweilig, denn es passiert nicht wirklich viel. Man redet und redet, dann schaut man mal nach und der Schluss versickert im Mysteriösen. Was es Vanessa oder Ora? War es wirklich ein Vampir? War es eine List der Ehefrau eine potentielle Geliebte loszuwerden? Darauf deutet zumindest der Sinnspruch der Ehefrau hin "Die sündige Seele verwirkt ihr Recht zu leben".
1 Stunde und 4 Minuten gepflegte Langeweile.
Dieses Hörspiel erzählt eine in sich abgeschlossene, eigenständige Geschichte und kann einzeln, außer der Reihe gehört werden.
Die Kurzgeschichte erschien 1926 unter dem Titel "Bewitched: A story of vampirism" in "Here and Beyond" zusammen mit Mary Pask: "A man meets Miss Mary Pask but then remembers she is dead." Die Geschichte kann beim Projekt Gutenberg nachgelesen werden.
Edith Newbold Jones Wharton (1862 - 1937) war eine amerikanische Schriftstellerin, die besonders dafür bekannt, war in ihren Werken die grausamen Exzesse der amerikanischen Aristokratie Anfang deszwanzigsten Jahrhunderts detailliert zu beschreiben. Ihre Geschichten widmen sich meist der gesellschaftlichen Status der Frau und dem moralischen Niedergang der gehobenen Schichten. Ihr Stil wird oft mit jenem ihres Freundes und Mentors Henry James verglichen. 1921 gewann sie für "Zeit der Unschuld" als erste Frau den Pulitzer Preis.
Mir persönlich gefiel die Geschichte nicht. Es liegt nicht an der Umsetzung, die ist wie immer auf höchstem Niveau mit hervorragenden Sprechern und stimmiger akustischer Untermalung. Es ist die Geschichte selber. Zum einen ist sie nicht schaurig. Zum anderen ist sie langweilig, denn es passiert nicht wirklich viel. Man redet und redet, dann schaut man mal nach und der Schluss versickert im Mysteriösen. Was es Vanessa oder Ora? War es wirklich ein Vampir? War es eine List der Ehefrau eine potentielle Geliebte loszuwerden? Darauf deutet zumindest der Sinnspruch der Ehefrau hin "Die sündige Seele verwirkt ihr Recht zu leben".
1 Stunde und 4 Minuten gepflegte Langeweile.
Dieses Hörspiel erzählt eine in sich abgeschlossene, eigenständige Geschichte und kann einzeln, außer der Reihe gehört werden.
September 10, 2021
The woes of living in a rural community where one slowly wastes away. Hiding secrets from our neighbors until we thrust judgment on each other and tell the community it is their burden to fix this problem.
There is so much imagery and implication of witches, vampirism, and ghosts but what I’m really hung up on is whether or not it was truly Ora or if it was Venny who was visiting Mr. Rutledge. Guess we’ll never know 🤷♀️
There is so much imagery and implication of witches, vampirism, and ghosts but what I’m really hung up on is whether or not it was truly Ora or if it was Venny who was visiting Mr. Rutledge. Guess we’ll never know 🤷♀️
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 27, 2023
A man in a rural community is being visited by the undead woman who he had once been involved with. Or is he? Wharton is a skillful storyteller, but leaves no easy answers for what has taken place. This is available in The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton, as well as on youtube. 3.5 stars
April 19, 2025
“It's a worm in the brain, solitude is.”
This is a good, if frustratingly ambiguous, short story from Edith Wharton. I love the isolated, rural, and wintry New England setting and the incorporation of old, primitive folklore from the region. Wharton develops a strong sense of atmosphere from the very first scene. I do wish Bewitched could have been more explicit in what actually occurs in the plot, though. I was left puzzled by the conclusion.
This tale was first published in Wharton’s short story collection Here and Beyond in 1926. The book can be read for free here: https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/060...
“The snow had ceased, and a green sunset was spreading upward into the crystal sky. A stinging wind barbed with ice-flakes caught them in the face on the open ridges, but when they dropped down into the hollow by Lamer's pond the air was as soundless and empty as an unswung bell.”
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[Image: Book Cover]
Citation:
Wharton, E. (2019). Bewitched (eBook). Fantasy and Horror Classics. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07... (Original work published 1926)
Title: Bewitched
Author(s): Edith Wharton (1862-1937)
Year: 1926
Genre: Fiction - Short Story: Horror
Page count: 33 pages
Date(s) read: 4/19/25
Book 80 in 2025
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October 24, 2023
This book was a little difficult to follow at times. The story takes place in New England in the coldest of winters and surrounds a woman who gets community members together at her home to discuss, what she felt, is a bewitching of sorts. A young girl has been seen in the woods on some evenings near an abandoned house nearby. However, this girl is already dead. Speculation points to her father possibly being her killer, and several other strange phenomen is also brought up. When I first started reading this, I thought it was going to be really good, but I ended up being a bit disappointed.
February 18, 2022
Hate to give Edith Wharton a 1 star but this story didn't work for me. I listened twice and still was bored and my mind drifted off. I shouldn't have to listen multiple times to understand a story (too many other stories out there rather than waste time and hours trying to see if a book is good or not giving it multiple chances). The story didn't captivate me at all. I debated "maybe I should give it a 3rd try" which means my opportunity cost I would be giving up that time on a better story. Better to move on to a better story like one by H.P. Lovecraft or Edgar Allen Poe in this genre.
November 1, 2023
I did not understand this one. A woman calls the deacon and some local men to her house to see her husband who says that he is bewitched by his former girlfriend, who is now dead. Her father says that it cannot be and urges the deacon to bear witness as they spy on the man’s activities. They follow him to a hut at the pond the next day where they see bare footprints in the snow. The father breaks into the cabin and fires his gun at the ghost-like figure. A few days later his other daughter dies and the woman says that her husband is cured.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 27, 2023
For the majority of the story, I was super intrigued - the atmosphere was chilly, the characters were each of themselves unique, and with the track the plot was taking, it seemed like it would be a creepy read that held a twist of some sort that would shift the perspective immediately.
However, the ending was just too abrupt for any real satisfaction; the build-up was for… nothing, really. Nevertheless, I don’t regret reading it, I simply just wouldn’t recommend it.
However, the ending was just too abrupt for any real satisfaction; the build-up was for… nothing, really. Nevertheless, I don’t regret reading it, I simply just wouldn’t recommend it.
October 31, 2019
Listened to David Tennant's reading of this gothic tale. It's quite compelling and the imagery is quite fascinating. The descriptions of the female is well done and makes it easy to envision how she appears. A perfect read for the Halloween season or just needing a short vampire tale to pass the time.
April 12, 2023
This was a quick, fun ghost story that was perfect as a bedtime story (yes, I know that’s odd but stick with me the Victorians did it too ok?!).
A group of men are called to a local woman’s house for an unknown reason. They soon discover that this normally taciturn woman has discovered a ghastly secret of her husbands, and she needs advice and help on how to proceed.
A group of men are called to a local woman’s house for an unknown reason. They soon discover that this normally taciturn woman has discovered a ghastly secret of her husbands, and she needs advice and help on how to proceed.
June 4, 2024
an old short story from the 1920s combining the two very popular genres of that time, mystery and crime. i did not find it particularly engaging, but i can imagine it would have been a hit back then.
February 7, 2025
Well, I liked the writing and setting of the story, they are well constructed. But I think I didn't like the ending, although it left me quite intrigued and thoughtful, maybe I need time to understand it better, but it is quite ambiguous.
June 14, 2025
The scenery, the way it's written, it's absolutely entertaining. There's a soap-opera-ish quality to it, it's so fun to read! Very atmospheric and eerie! I like how the characters are written, they have back stories, which I very much appreciate!
4.25 read, loved this one for sure!
4.25 read, loved this one for sure!
October 14, 2025
This was the very first audiobook I’ve tried. And my rating might just be a reflection of discovering audiobooks are not for me. I really wanted to enjoy the experience, but I had a hard time following along. I may try reading it to see if it was the format or the story. Stay tuned.
October 16, 2019
Loved this quick little read!
October 27, 2019
I love a good Edith Wharton ghost story.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews