Ladies of Horror: Two Centuries of Supernatural Stories by the Gentle Sex

by Seon Manley (Editor), Gogo Lewis (Editor), Agatha Christie

Contents

11 • The Making of a Monster • [Frankenstein] • short story by Mary Shelley [as by Mary W. Shelley]
29 • The Werewolf • novelette by Clemence Housman (variant of The Were-Wolf 1890)
71 • The Wind in the Rose-Bush • (1902) • short story by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman [as by Mary Wilkins Freeman]
93 • The Gorgon's Head • (1899) • short story by Gertrude Bacon
107 • Man-Size in Marble • (1887) • short story by E. Nesbit
123 • Eveline's Visitant • short story by Mary Elizabeth Braddon [as by Mrs. Braddon]
137 • The Yellow Wall Paper • (1937) • short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (variant of The Yellow Wall-Paper 1892)
159 • Hand in Glove • (1952) • short story by Elizabeth Bowen
173 • Whitewash • (1952) • short story by Rose Macaulay
181 • The Birds • (1952) • novelette by Daphne du Maurier
210 • The Tree's Wife • (1950) • short story by Mary Elizabeth Counselman
225 • Moonlight—Starlight • (1959) • short story by Virginia Layefsky
237 • The Lovely House • (1952) • novelette by Shirley Jackson
265 • The Last Séance • (1926) • short story by Agatha Christie
283 • Biographical Notes (Ladies of Horror: Two Centuries of Supernatural Stories by the Gentle Sex) • essay by uncredited

Genres: Horror, Fiction

Hardcover

First published June 1, 1971

Reviews

[Carla Remy · Rating 4 out of 5]

02/2015

There were stories I skipped, and stories I utterly loved. The Werewolf by Clemence Houseman (1896) is classic Folktale Horror. The Wind In the Rose Bush (1899) by Mary Wilkins Freeman is the best ghost story I've ever read (probably because there's no ghost in it). Though I knew them before, I gladly consumed The Yellow Wallpaper and The Birds again. By far my favorite, however, was Shirley Jackson's The Lovely House (1952). More psychedelic than horror, it seems to be a profoundly deep and inscrutable look at time. "Like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel..."

[Steve Shilstone · Rating 4 out of 5]

19th and 20th century horror stories written by women, featuring 5 star gems The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and The Lovely House by Shirley Jackson.

[Dirck Lint · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a compilation of scary stories, this one pleases more than usual. There's little lame filler, the bane of any anthology-- in the few cases where the supernatural aspect is ambiguous, as is the case in "The Yellow Wallpaper" and "The Lovely House", the ambiguity is part of the art rather than an infuriating Scooby Doo-esque cop-out. There are also some stories and some authors with a long career of seeking out such fiction had not previously uncovered, or to whose work I'd only heard vague references to, and the novelty was wonderfully exciting. Possibly the weakest story in the thing is the concluding offering from Agatha Christie, which may give some idea of the power of the rest.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked "Man-Size in Marble" and "The Birds" most. A fun collection.

[Shoyab Akand · Rating 3 out of 5]

For two centuries writers of "the gentle sex" have provided stories of the supernatural that are among the most imaginative and provocative ever written. Beginning with Mary Shelley, the creator of Frankenstein, these ladies have explored the occult, pioneered what was to become science fiction, and probed the possibilities of other dimensions in time and human consciousness.

Seon Manley and Gogo Lewis have gleaned seven outstanding examples of the work of women writers from the nineteenth century and seven from the twentieth, and in discerning introductions tell the significance of each in the evolution of the horror story. Readers will relish these choice pieces from master storytellers such as E. Nesbit, Rose Macaulay, Daphne du Maurier, and Shirley Jackson.

This collection of stories-some of them long out of print-is remarkable for its insights into the development of the genre, and in presenting only the stories of women writers creates a awareness of the importance of their work -- From front flap of the book