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Winter Ghosts: Classic Ghost Stories for Christmas
Set during the Christmas period, these atmospheric Victorian and Edwardian ghost stories by masters of the genre are perfect reading for the long Winter evenings! The Phantom Coach by Amelia B Edwards The Ghost of Christmas Eve by J.M. Barrie The Governess’s Story by Amyas Northcote The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton by Charles Dickens The Dead Man’s Story by James Hain Friswell Bone to His Bone by E.G. Swain Jerry Bundler by W.W. Jacobs The Old Nurse’s Story by Elizabeth Gaskell Thurlow’s Christmas Story by John Kendrick Bangs The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance by M.R. James The Real and the Counterfeit by Louisa Baldwin Mustapha by S. Baring-Gould Wolverden Tower by Grant Allen Number Ninety by B.M. Croker The Great Staircase at Landover Hall by Frank Stockton A Strange Christmas Game by Charlotte Riddell What Was He? by Theo Gift The Brazen Cross by H.B. Marriott Watson The Beeston Ghost by John Swaffield Orton
378 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 18, 2014
34 people are currently reading
126 people want to read
About the author
Amelia B. Edwards
314 books69 followersAmelia Ann Blandford Edwards (1831-1892) was an English novelist, journalist, lady traveller and Egyptologist, born to an Irish mother and a father who had been a British Army officer before becoming a banker. Edwards was educated at home by her mother, showing considerable promise as a writer at a young age. She published her first poem at the age of 7, her first story at age 12. Edwards thereafter proceeded to publish a variety of poetry, stories and articles in a large number of magazines.
Edwards' first full-length novel was My Brother's Wife (1855). Her early novels were well received, but it was Barbara's History (1864), a novel of bigamy, that solidly established her reputation as a novelist. She spent considerable time and effort on their settings and backgrounds, estimating that it took her about two years to complete the researching and writing of each. This painstaking work paid off, her last novel, Lord Brackenbury (1880), emerged as a run-away success which went to 15 editions.
In the winter of 1873–1874, accompanied by several friends, Edwards toured Egypt, discovering a fascination with the land and its cultures, both ancient and modern. Journeying southwards from Cairo in a hired dahabiyeh (manned houseboat), the companions visited Philae and ultimately reached Abu Simbel where they remained for six weeks. During this last period, a member of Edwards' party, the English painter Andrew McCallum, discovered a previously-unknown sanctuary which bore her name for some time afterwards. Having once returned to the UK, Edwards proceeded to write a vivid description of her Nile voyage, publishing the resulting book in 1876 under the title of A Thousand Miles up the Nile. Enhanced with her own hand-drawn illustrations, the travelogue became an immediate bestseller.
Edwards' travels in Egypt had made her aware of the increasing threat directed towards the ancient monuments by tourism and modern development. Determined to stem these threats by the force of public awareness and scientific endeavour, Edwards became a tireless public advocate for the research and preservation of the ancient monuments and, in 1882, co-founded the Egypt Exploration Fund (now the Egypt Exploration Society) with Reginald Stuart Poole, curator of the Department of Coins and Medals at the British Museum. Edwards was to serve as joint Honorary Secretary of the Fund until her death some 14 years later.
With the aims of advancing the Fund's work, Edwards largely abandoned her other literary work to concentrate solely on Egyptology. In this field she contributed to the ninth edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica, to the American supplement of that work, and to the Standard Dictionary. As part of her efforts Edwards embarked on an ambitious lecture tour of the United States in the period 1889–1890. The content of these lectures was later published under the title Pharaohs, Fellahs, and Explorer (1891).
Amelia Edwards died at Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, on the 15 April 1892, bequeathing her collection of Egyptian antiquities and her library to University College London, together with a sum of £2,500 to found an Edwards Chair of Egyptology. She was buried in St Mary's Church Henbury, Bristol,
Wikipedia: Amelia B. Edwards
Edwards' first full-length novel was My Brother's Wife (1855). Her early novels were well received, but it was Barbara's History (1864), a novel of bigamy, that solidly established her reputation as a novelist. She spent considerable time and effort on their settings and backgrounds, estimating that it took her about two years to complete the researching and writing of each. This painstaking work paid off, her last novel, Lord Brackenbury (1880), emerged as a run-away success which went to 15 editions.
In the winter of 1873–1874, accompanied by several friends, Edwards toured Egypt, discovering a fascination with the land and its cultures, both ancient and modern. Journeying southwards from Cairo in a hired dahabiyeh (manned houseboat), the companions visited Philae and ultimately reached Abu Simbel where they remained for six weeks. During this last period, a member of Edwards' party, the English painter Andrew McCallum, discovered a previously-unknown sanctuary which bore her name for some time afterwards. Having once returned to the UK, Edwards proceeded to write a vivid description of her Nile voyage, publishing the resulting book in 1876 under the title of A Thousand Miles up the Nile. Enhanced with her own hand-drawn illustrations, the travelogue became an immediate bestseller.
Edwards' travels in Egypt had made her aware of the increasing threat directed towards the ancient monuments by tourism and modern development. Determined to stem these threats by the force of public awareness and scientific endeavour, Edwards became a tireless public advocate for the research and preservation of the ancient monuments and, in 1882, co-founded the Egypt Exploration Fund (now the Egypt Exploration Society) with Reginald Stuart Poole, curator of the Department of Coins and Medals at the British Museum. Edwards was to serve as joint Honorary Secretary of the Fund until her death some 14 years later.
With the aims of advancing the Fund's work, Edwards largely abandoned her other literary work to concentrate solely on Egyptology. In this field she contributed to the ninth edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica, to the American supplement of that work, and to the Standard Dictionary. As part of her efforts Edwards embarked on an ambitious lecture tour of the United States in the period 1889–1890. The content of these lectures was later published under the title Pharaohs, Fellahs, and Explorer (1891).
Amelia Edwards died at Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, on the 15 April 1892, bequeathing her collection of Egyptian antiquities and her library to University College London, together with a sum of £2,500 to found an Edwards Chair of Egyptology. She was buried in St Mary's Church Henbury, Bristol,
Wikipedia: Amelia B. Edwards
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 13, 2017
It gets to this time of year (nights drawing in, Christmas adverts on overdrive on the TV, etc) and there's something lovely about reading these type of stories (preferably by a large fire, in the cosiness of your well-lit living room). There are some lesser known Victorian authors included in this collection (which is only 99p on Kindle - a bargain). I'd read a few of them before (the Dickens, etc) but some of them were new to me and from authors who are definitely worth getting to know.
There are loads of these collections out there, but this collection has a little bit of everything and strikes me as one I'll keep on my Kindle so I can revisit them again (probably next November/December). Definitely worth the investment of 99 pence.
There are loads of these collections out there, but this collection has a little bit of everything and strikes me as one I'll keep on my Kindle so I can revisit them again (probably next November/December). Definitely worth the investment of 99 pence.
January 10, 2019
An enjoyable collection of old Christmas-themed & Christmas-adjacent ghost stories (in a couple of cases, it slightly pushes the concept, but mostly is on point). As in all such semi-slapdash, hit-them-with-quantity collections, there a few that mumble more than shout, but overall this collection is strong (assuming you like Victorian/classic ghost stories, which often have their own particular flavor, because if you do not, this one will not necessarily endear you to the type). Contains works by a few well known names such as W.W. Jacobs, J.M. Barrie, Charles Dickens, and M.R. James. Depending on your reading habits, you might also know Elizabeth Glaskell, B.M. Croker, and S. Baring-Gould, and Charlotte Riddell. Maybe others. Even if you do not wig most of the folks behind the collection, there is a fair mix of types: some humorous, some dark, many slightly touching and fairly melodramatic. A lot take place in the upper to upper-middle crust, but a few swoop down to more common fellows.
The best is "A Story of a Disappearance and a Reappearance," M.R. James' late story about a missing man and the events that occur after his disappearance, with perhaps the most striking, shocking image of his whole oeuvre (told in a Punch-and-Judy themed dream, and featuring the smashing of heads and stark imagery). Others delight. B.M. Croker's "Number Ninety," is one of her best, overall, and still works on the reread. John Kendrick Bangs' "Thurlow's Christmas Story" is slight in-and-of-itself, but plays a bit of meta-horror (J.M. Barrie's "The Ghost of Christmas Eve" also has a tad "meta-" to it, though just a tad). "The Great Staircase at Landover Hall" is pure fluff, but Frank Stockton makes it a sweet tale. And while "Wolverden Tower" is easily twice as long as it need be, it carries a strong theme. Another over-long-for-what-it-is is Elizabeth Glaskell's "The Old Nurse's Story," but I enjoyed it and found the spook there to be largely effective. "What Was He?," Theo Gift's story, is either good or middling depending on your mood, but there is something in its...despair...that intrigues. It would probably fit better being rewritten in a more modern horror story mode better than its Victorian trappings.
There are two stories about ghostly pranks gone awry (the classic trope where someone pretends to be a ghost and is killed or frightened to death, or kills someone...a strangely moral point to which some of the old scribes stuck). The better of the two is probably W.W. Jacob's "Jerry Bundler" which has a tinge of humor and something like a twist.
Of historical interest, Charles Dickens' "The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton," features a proto-A Christmas Carol theme - a miserable man who detests Christmas is haunted by supernatural forces and watches the joys and tragedies of others from afar - and could easily be considered a fairly different first draft of that later, and better, story.
Of historical interest to folks like me might be H.B. Marriott Watson's "The Brazen Cross," that involves a scene of folks giving into pre-marital passion (probably just a strong hug, considering the source, but the author leaves it up to your imagination) and then getting horror'd. While it's a surely meant to be a moral tale about doing things proper, it's interesting to see it as an early example of the "have sex, die" kind of trope.
While only a few truly sing, essentially none hit a true sour note. The aforementioned "Wolverden Tower" is overlong enough (and its theme of female sacrifice might be rough enough, though derived from historical sources) that it comes close, but holds it mostly together. Likewise, assuming you can get by S. Baring-Gould's casual colonial racism in the Euros-among-Egypt "Mustapha," complete with the main character who "rises" above racism by considering the savages mostly noble, the human interest aspects of the end of the story are fairly timeless and strong. It is the story in this collection that least needed a ghost to feel complete, because really the ghost does nothing but offer something like retribution. Without it, it would have honestly been a more haunting story about the impact of cultural invasion.
The best is "A Story of a Disappearance and a Reappearance," M.R. James' late story about a missing man and the events that occur after his disappearance, with perhaps the most striking, shocking image of his whole oeuvre (told in a Punch-and-Judy themed dream, and featuring the smashing of heads and stark imagery). Others delight. B.M. Croker's "Number Ninety," is one of her best, overall, and still works on the reread. John Kendrick Bangs' "Thurlow's Christmas Story" is slight in-and-of-itself, but plays a bit of meta-horror (J.M. Barrie's "The Ghost of Christmas Eve" also has a tad "meta-" to it, though just a tad). "The Great Staircase at Landover Hall" is pure fluff, but Frank Stockton makes it a sweet tale. And while "Wolverden Tower" is easily twice as long as it need be, it carries a strong theme. Another over-long-for-what-it-is is Elizabeth Glaskell's "The Old Nurse's Story," but I enjoyed it and found the spook there to be largely effective. "What Was He?," Theo Gift's story, is either good or middling depending on your mood, but there is something in its...despair...that intrigues. It would probably fit better being rewritten in a more modern horror story mode better than its Victorian trappings.
There are two stories about ghostly pranks gone awry (the classic trope where someone pretends to be a ghost and is killed or frightened to death, or kills someone...a strangely moral point to which some of the old scribes stuck). The better of the two is probably W.W. Jacob's "Jerry Bundler" which has a tinge of humor and something like a twist.
Of historical interest, Charles Dickens' "The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton," features a proto-A Christmas Carol theme - a miserable man who detests Christmas is haunted by supernatural forces and watches the joys and tragedies of others from afar - and could easily be considered a fairly different first draft of that later, and better, story.
Of historical interest to folks like me might be H.B. Marriott Watson's "The Brazen Cross," that involves a scene of folks giving into pre-marital passion (probably just a strong hug, considering the source, but the author leaves it up to your imagination) and then getting horror'd. While it's a surely meant to be a moral tale about doing things proper, it's interesting to see it as an early example of the "have sex, die" kind of trope.
While only a few truly sing, essentially none hit a true sour note. The aforementioned "Wolverden Tower" is overlong enough (and its theme of female sacrifice might be rough enough, though derived from historical sources) that it comes close, but holds it mostly together. Likewise, assuming you can get by S. Baring-Gould's casual colonial racism in the Euros-among-Egypt "Mustapha," complete with the main character who "rises" above racism by considering the savages mostly noble, the human interest aspects of the end of the story are fairly timeless and strong. It is the story in this collection that least needed a ghost to feel complete, because really the ghost does nothing but offer something like retribution. Without it, it would have honestly been a more haunting story about the impact of cultural invasion.
December 1, 2019
“As for me, I know very well that when I read him of a dark night, I am obliged to creep to bed without shutting ny book, and without daring to look behind me.” (Quotation from “The Dead Man’s Story”, pos. 1056)
“We talked on an extraordinary variety of subjects, I distinctly recollect a long argument on mushrooms-mushrooms, murders, racing, cholera; from cholera we came to sudden death, from sudden death to churchyards, and from churchyards, it was naturally but a step to ghosts.” (Quotation from “Number Ninety”, pos. 3878)
Theme and Genre
A collection of classic Victorian and Edwardian ghost stories about inexplicable, supernatural, spooky experiences, written by different authors.
Conclusion
A perfect collection for dark winter evenings, giving you spine-tingling feelings. Very different stories and different writing styles make this book a thrilling, enjoyable reading.
“We talked on an extraordinary variety of subjects, I distinctly recollect a long argument on mushrooms-mushrooms, murders, racing, cholera; from cholera we came to sudden death, from sudden death to churchyards, and from churchyards, it was naturally but a step to ghosts.” (Quotation from “Number Ninety”, pos. 3878)
Theme and Genre
A collection of classic Victorian and Edwardian ghost stories about inexplicable, supernatural, spooky experiences, written by different authors.
Conclusion
A perfect collection for dark winter evenings, giving you spine-tingling feelings. Very different stories and different writing styles make this book a thrilling, enjoyable reading.
December 16, 2023
As with all anthologies a mixed bag, some classics and some "also rans". The final story, The Beeston Ghost (which does embody the true spirit of Christmas) is annoyingly written in dialect; a pet hate of mine (and why I didn't get past the first page of Trainspotting). I also invariably find fault with Dickens's writing, which is odd given his reputation.
November 3, 2015
A good collection of ghost short stories, though some are repeats of stories found in the Wildside Ghost Story Megapacks. There is one problem with this volume and the sequel, More Winter Ghosts: A Further Collection of Classic Christmas Ghost Stories, and that's a total lack of an index or contents page. You have to click your way through the volume, which is fortunately not all that long.
A few favorite stories:
"The Phantom Coach" by Amelia B. Edwards is about a newlywed who becomes lost in the snow in the north of England, and hitches a ride on what he thinks is a regular carriage. Edwards can always be counted on for a good, creepy story.
"The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton" by Charles Dickens is a different take on the reformation of a nasty, unpleasant man who hates Christmas (and just about everything else). Gabriel Grub doesn't get off as easily as Ebenezer Scrooge, though.
“The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance” by M.R. James gets off to a slow start, but picks up speed near the end. You'll never look at a Punch and Judy show the same way again. (Aren't puppets creepy? I hate them.)
"The Real and the Counterfeit" by Louisa Baldwin seems lighthearted, but gets serious near the end. Oh, and never imitate a ghost - the real ones don't like it.
"The Great Staircase at Landover Hall" by Frank Stockton is an excellent story for Christmas. It's not a scary ghost story at all, but rather a love story.
"What Was He?" by Theo Gift is an unusual story. The unnamed narrator is the wife of an English clergyman. She tells of meeting the same man (if man he is) over the period of many years - in Switzerland in 1868, Bloomsbury in 1875, and to an unnamed English country town in 1882 and 1883. Each time he has a new bride and each time something terrible happens.
Overall, a very good and entertaining book. However, it would be better with a contents page.
A few favorite stories:
"The Phantom Coach" by Amelia B. Edwards is about a newlywed who becomes lost in the snow in the north of England, and hitches a ride on what he thinks is a regular carriage. Edwards can always be counted on for a good, creepy story.
"The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton" by Charles Dickens is a different take on the reformation of a nasty, unpleasant man who hates Christmas (and just about everything else). Gabriel Grub doesn't get off as easily as Ebenezer Scrooge, though.
“The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance” by M.R. James gets off to a slow start, but picks up speed near the end. You'll never look at a Punch and Judy show the same way again. (Aren't puppets creepy? I hate them.)
"The Real and the Counterfeit" by Louisa Baldwin seems lighthearted, but gets serious near the end. Oh, and never imitate a ghost - the real ones don't like it.
"The Great Staircase at Landover Hall" by Frank Stockton is an excellent story for Christmas. It's not a scary ghost story at all, but rather a love story.
"What Was He?" by Theo Gift is an unusual story. The unnamed narrator is the wife of an English clergyman. She tells of meeting the same man (if man he is) over the period of many years - in Switzerland in 1868, Bloomsbury in 1875, and to an unnamed English country town in 1882 and 1883. Each time he has a new bride and each time something terrible happens.
Overall, a very good and entertaining book. However, it would be better with a contents page.
May 7, 2017
I enjoy ghost stories and this nice (plus nicely priced) ebook collection of vintage work provides good entertainment value. The stories (some are familiar, many are not) are well written and rather slowly paced (not a complaint). They are also moody rather than horrific or frightening. As a bonus, many of the stories are set in country houses, always a good spot for ghosts.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews