The Tiger Skin: And Other Tales of the Uneasy by Violet Hunt

by Violet Hunt, Melissa Edmundson (Editor)

A headless coachman drives his carriage of lost souls towards a violent fate. A mother’s obsession with eugenics spirals into a cruel madness. An adulterous pair are plagued by the suspicion that their dog means to expose their darkest secrets.

In 1911, Violet Hunt published her groundbreaking collection of short stories entitled Tales of the Uneasy, which explored a world of psychological and ghostly hauntings, shot through with high tragedy and strange horror. Over time, Hunt’s reputation as a literary hostess obscured her important contribution to British weird fiction, and now her uncanny collection – recognised by R. S. Hadji as one of his thirteen “neglected masterpieces of the macabre” – is long overdue its rightful place among the great weird works of the Edwardian era.

At times utterly chilling, startlingly bleak and darkly comic, this new edition also includes Hunt’s rare and revised novella version of the beguiling title story, ‘The Tiger Skin’.

Genres: Short Stories

317 pages, Paperback

First published September 18, 2025

About the author

Isobel Violet Hunt was a British author and literary hostess. She was an active feminist. She covered several literary forms, including short stories, novels, memoirs, and biographies.

Reviews

[KDS · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was surprised to be a little disappointed by this one. It's not a bad collection, but there is a reason Violet Hunt remains an unknown - at least half of her stories here stories are quite unremarkable. There are a couple of worthies which raises the profile of this collection, but the main value lies in the first hand viewing of middle class society and perspectives of the time, shown through the lens of a highly intelligent, feminist writer who is an almost complete unknown in literature circles today. They also address moral and psychological issues in a way many of her peers did not. Apart from anything else, I am always in favour of bringing back into print older stories to explore from largely unknown writers.

The individual tales themselves are as I said a very mixed bag. The first story (The Telegram) is the same opening tale as the London Fog anthology in the same series. It's a straightforward, predictable, but evocative enough ghost story for its time. The next two stories (The Operation and The Memoir) are plain dull and barely worthy of any collection of "uneasy" tales. They are tales of love, revenge and societal indiscretion - the latter being the only notable parts of interest

Things pick up with 'The Prayer' which is a great premise of woman who brings back her husband from death through prayer only to be reviled by what he has become, just overly drawn out and told in a mundane way. This is a story which has been done elsewhere and with much greater sense of unease. I can't think of the story offhand, but it is in the Tales of the Weird series somewhere.

'The Coach' is the first strong standout story and is an interesting twist on the Styx/Boatman myth. It's not overly exciting, but it is quite unique, has some strong interactions and again reveals a lot about the era we're reading from, which continues to be the main strength of all these stories. It's also a stylistic change compared to the preceding stories which helps refresh the palette a little.

The Blue Bonnet I initially stopped halfway because it was just tedious and unexciting, although uses the setting of a jilted lover during the rout of Bonnie Prince Charlie from Swarkstone Bridge to strong effect. It’s another love story turned tragedy, but whilst it had gothic undertones to the tale and was fine when it finally got going, there’s no supernatural or weird element to it.

The Witness is the second standout and is the tale of an adulterous couple, separated after a violent crime and reacquianted years later. It's an acute, tense story of madness and guilt, but the weird aspect comes from the question about whether the dog knows too much and will reveal their crime. The lines are blurred and it has a strong ending. It's the perfect blend of psychological weird.

The Barometer is another oddity, but is perhaps another stand out. It's mostly a straightforward story of two children trying to occupy their time during an intense drought. But it contains a shocking and hard hitting twist to the tale and the tension is expertly ramped up to a chilling conclusion.

The Tiger Skin - the title novella - is at the end, so there's a fair amount of mixed quality to get through before even getting to it. Sadly, this was the most tedious to wade through until it's shocking climax of horrific revelations of abuse. Principally a story of eugenics through neglect, it’s filled with a lot of florid character descriptions which pad the story out before it finally reaches a destination which most people will see coming, although is no less harrowing for it. I forced my way through this one with much effort and even putting aside the later intensity, it was a drag to read for the first 70 pages. Even the title is more symbolic than any direct relation to the story. Added note: a content warning is advisory with this one.

These are well written, mostly intelligent stories, but too many lack atmosphere, dread or unease. Sure, this might be a case of "being of its time" or focusing more on psychological drama, but Frances Hodgson Burnett was much better at the supernatural tale and I highly recommend a collection of her works if anyone is looking for a "classic weird" female writer to explore. There's just enough here to interest the more dedicated enthusiast from the stand out stories I've highlighted, but casual readers of The Weird are going to struggle to find enough to consistently hold interest. Much like Medusa by E. H Visiak, this is one that R. S Hadji thought a neglected masterpiece, but again doesn't quite earn that moniker for me.

I normally have a high tolerance for early supernatural stories from the Victorian era and the early 20th C, but much of the collection is a real struggle to stay interested in because it rarely falls into the Weird genre I love. I'm glad I changed my mind and stayed the course for a couple of the later tales, but this isn't an easy recommend.

[Sembray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to British Library Publishing for sending me a proof copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is an immersive, claustrophobic and gripping collection of short but intense stories from an unjustly forgotten author. While I am not a natural horror reader, the combination of creeping psychological dread combined with the perils of love and relationships is far more believable and effective than most out-and-out frightfests. Hunt's writing style is gorgeous, crammed with atmospheric descriptions and vivid, horrific but compelling characters. My favourite story has to be The Coach, which brings an imaginative new angle to the old themes of death and the passing of souls, but there isn't a weak story here. On the whole, a fascinating collection which will delight fans of the macabre as well as enjoyers of classic romantic fiction more generally. Hopefully this new edition will bring Violet Hunt's work to the wider audience it so richly deserves. I will be sure to keep an eye out for any further titles by her.

[Chris Greensmith · Rating 1 out of 5]

"He helped himself to another slice of bread-and-butter before answering. 'Well-' he said slowly, 'it seems hard to believe that every fool who has a voice to pray with and a brain to conceive idiotic requests should be permitted to interfere with the economy of the universe. As a rule, if people were long-sighted enough to foresee the result of their petitions, I fancy very few of us would venture to interfere."

[p. · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5☆ (positive)
I have been very picky with my reading of this series this year - I don't know why. I enjoyed the concept of a lot of these (bad women behaving badly! #feminism! the monsters were people after all! etc.) but none of them really grabbed me. They are well-written though, and well selected.

Favourite stories: "The Telegram", "The Prayer", "The Blue Bonnet", The Coach", "The Tiger Skin"

[Michael John Paul McManus · Rating 5 out of 5]

A strange set of short stories by Violet Hunt. I'd never read any of her stories before and to be honest I'd never heard of her before either. But as always, the British Library of the Weird never fails in bringing together excellent stories of, in this case, the Uneasy. The Tiger Skin is the longest story in the book and brings about a different type of story. All in all another good release from the British Library of the Weird. 10/10.