Pomegranate Seed and Other Ghostly Tales

by Edith Wharton

PENGUIN A celebration of the very best literary horror, a series of terrifying novels and tales that for generations have thrilled, captivated and kept readers wide awake at night.

Known for writing some of the most incisive and elegant novels of the early twentieth century, Edith Wharton was also a master practitioner of the ghost story, producing dozens of frightful fictions throughout her lifetime. Combining pristine prose with strange, suffocating atmospheres and a profound sense of the uncanny, Pomegranate Seed and Other Ghostly Tales, a collection of Wharton's very best haunting narratives, detail spectral handwriting, isolated houses in lonely landscapes, and a husband with a terrible secret…

‘Masterly stories of horror and unease’ New Yorker

Genres: Horror, Short Stories

201 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 16, 2025

About the author

Edith 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.

Reviews

[Sammy · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5*

This was my first introduction to Edith Warthon, and to be perfectly honest, it was a very mediocre collection of stories. I didn't hate them, I just wish I had really enjoyed these stories.
My favourite one was probably The Lady's Maid's Bell, though I think the spookiest (more like the only slightly spooky) short story was Afterward.
The issue that I kept encountering with these short stories was that the initial mood for them was set up quite nicely and then when the climax of the story comes to it, it just feels like nothing happens, no big reveal/complication, it would just set a moody and spooky vibe and then mention a ghost and that was it, throughout all of the stories. I initially thought it had been just the first story in the collection, which gives title to the book, and was hoping it was just a bad start, but I can't say it got much better. It's a real shame.

[Bentley Jimmerson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought these collection of horror stories were quite good, particularly since I don’t usually like Edith Wharton’s work. My favourites were Kerfol and Afterward, for the court room scene in the former and the way in which the story was told in the latter. Pomegranate seed was good as well, just not my favourite. Overall it was an entertaining selection of stories, apt for the month of Halloween.

[Daisy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought I'd pick up at the library this collection of ghost stories for spooky season and I overall enjoyed it. I think Wharton is really great at drawing you in with this growing tension, interesting relationship dynamics between the characters and the spooky settings - often in old, isolated country houses. I do like the writing style too, I do feel the scene is very well set.

Some of my favourite stories were the titular Pomegranate Seed, Kerfol, and Afterward. I didn't really have any I didn't like, luckily.

One place I would wish nearly every story did better was the endings. In so many, what we got seemed like an abrupt cut-off, too early for it to be satisfying. Ambiguity is something I welcome especially in ghost stories but after the detail in the rest of the story, the slow and tense build up, setting up the scene as I said earlier, it feels like something is missing from these stories, cut off at the end. Maybe it was a stylistic choice, but that's personally not my preference.

Ultimately a spooky solid collection with lots of ghosts, slightly lacking in the ending department.

[Robin :] · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remain not a huge fan of short story collections, because every time one ends it feels cut off rather than concluded. however, i enjoyed the more sedate spooky elements in this collection compared to the gore and blood in more contemporary works. it's always good to mix up your horror! my favourite was Kerfol, but i always love a wander through a big dilapidated manor house populated with mysterious servants, rooms and history.

[Aaron Jesse O'Hare-Lewis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wharton’s ghosts are spectres of class anxiety, largely, often upper-class anxieties about the legacies they inherit or the staff they depend upon. It’s interesting enough material in a lucid style but never really moved me much.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

An eerie collection of well written ghost stories. Some may find the lack of resolution or completion of these stories frustrating but I always like that in a short story

[Mohamad · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5⭐️

[Soizic Humbert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Abandoned. Some good stories, but I adore Edith Wharton’s novels and found these short stories disappointing in comparison.

[Charlotte Vincent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Afterward was probably my favourite short story!! Loved studying her in school with the age of innocence and I forgot how lovely her writing is. Some of these stories I wished they would continue… some didn’t catch my attention as much as others, such is the way with a short story collection