Favourite Ghost Stories

by Aidan Chambers

Favourite Ghost Stories (Kingfisher Story Library) [Paperback]
Aidan Chambers (Editor), Tim Stevens (Illustrator)
Paperback: 222 pages
Publisher: Kingfisher Books Ltd (18 Sep 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0753406659
ISBN-13: 978-0753406656
Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 12 x 2.4 cm

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Collections

222 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2002

About the author

Aidan Chambers was a British author of children's and young-adult novels. He won both the British Carnegie Medal and the American Printz Award for Postcards from No Man's Land (1999). For his "lasting contribution to children's literature" he won the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2002.

Reviews

[Werner · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a thrift-store purchase, picked up last summer because I'm a fan of both short stories and supernatural fiction, so an avid reader of anthologies of the latter. Editor Chambers has compiled 15 ghostly tales by American and British authors (he's British himself), one of which he wrote. Most are from the 20th century (publication dates aren't given with the stories themselves, nor is any information provided about the authors or the editor --I looked up his Goodreads profile-- but the Acknowledgements cite copyright dates for a number of them), but four are from 19th-century writers. Several are recycled from at least four earlier ghost-story anthologies Chambers edited, singly or with his wife (he's clearly into the sub-genre!). Only three of the writers (or 20%) represented are female.

While briefly researching for this review, I discovered that, although this edition doesn't have any obvious indication that it was originally intended for younger readers, the first printing was part of Kingfisher's Story Library imprint of short fiction collections for kids. (Chambers himself began as a schoolteacher, is a past president of the School Library Assn., and he and his wife Nancy won the Eleanor Farjeon Award for outstanding services to children's books in 1982, at least partly for their founding of the children's and YA-oriented Thimble Press and Signal magazine.) This likely explains the decision (which I found otherwise unaccountable!) to abridge both Edward Bulwer-Lytton's "The Haunted and the Haunters" and Oscar Wilde's "The Canterville Ghost," neither of which is actually prohibitively long, IMO. It also explains the inclusion of a full-page black-and-white illustration with each story, and the number of selections with underage protagonists. But adults, of course, can appreciate illustrations, too; not all of the stories were originally written for children, and while they don't have sexual content nor noticeable bad language, they aren't necessarily sunny and upbeat, nor are they too dumbed-down and bland for adults.

I'd previously read all of the 19th-century works included here (though I reread Mark Twain's droll "A Ghost Story," because I didn't initially remember it until I got into it). For the most part, Edgar Allan Poe didn't write supernatural fiction (despite his reputation for it among readers who only know his name vaguely!) he's represented here by "The Tell-Tale Heart," which isn't genuinely a ghost story. Chambers, though, considers it an example of what he calls, in the short Introduction, a "psychological" ghost story, in which the "ghost" is only present in the mind of the viewpoint character. Based on internal suggestions in the story itself, I'd interpret one other selection here, Irish writer William Trevor's "The Death of Peggy Morrissey," in the same way. (Trevor was primarily a writer of descriptive fiction --though another story of his is included in The Oxford Book of Twentieth-Century Ghost Stories-- and this has themes similar to what reviews I've read suggests are often found in his general fiction.) Besides these, the other stories, and most of their authors, were new to me. Agatha Christie was one of the few exceptions, but like most people, I'd read only (some of) her work in the mystery genre; "The Lamp" demonstrates that she could write a well-tailored ghost story as well. One story here is really a tale of a temporal slip, and a resulting time-travel paradox, a type of story I usually don't like --but here, it works!

The one selection I didn't like at all was Lance Salway's disturbing and internally illogical "Such a Sweet Little Girl." Although I had high hopes for August Derleth's "The Lonesome Place," having previously read and liked at least three of his stories in other anthologies, and though he does do a great job of depicting the fear of a scared-of-the-dark child (I was one!), its premise is ultimately too implausible to really generate suspension of disbelief. Chambers own story, "Room 18," is more a story of the uncanny and inexplicable than an actual ghost story, though it has some of the formal features of one, and IMO doesn't stand examination very well. (He based it, according to the Introduction, on a friend's real-life "dreadful, haunted night," also in room 18 of a Dublin hotel, which had an almost Lovecraftian aftermath; but his retelling takes it in a totally different direction.)

"Footsteps Invisible" (1963) by Robert Arthur, with its ancient Egyptian archaeological background, was perhaps my favorite of the stories here. But the others I haven't already named --"The Gnomon" (1984) by Jan Mark, "Brownie" by R. Chetwynd-Hayes, Robert Westall's "The Haunting of Chas McGill," set at the beginning of World War II but in the shadow of the preceding Great War, Catherine Storr's "Christmas in the Rectory," set in late 19th-century Cornwall, and "If She Bends, She Breaks" (1982) by John Gordon are quite good as well. The latter story benefits from an unusual perspective, and the reader will have the experience, for much of the tale, of knowing something the narrator does not. Westall's contribution is notable for its vivid evocation of its setting (the British author was about his protagonist's age at that time).

[Milton · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Lonesome Place - 4
Such A Sweet Little Girl - 5
A Ghost Story - 2
Foot Steps Invisible - 5
The Gnomon - 5
The Haunted and the Haunted or The House and The Brain - 1
If She Bends She breaks - 2
Room 18 - 3
Brownie - 4
The Lamp - 3
The Haunting of Chas McGill- 1
The Tell Tale Heart - 4
The Death of Peggy Morrissey - 2
Christmas In The Rectory - 4
The Centerville Ghost - 1

[Gary Reads (garysbooksnthings) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Summer Seeds · Rating 2 out of 5]

For the most part these were pretty bad with a few decent stories thrown in

[Kathryn McCary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fifteen ghost stories. A handful are readable, but the only really good one is "The Haunting of Chas McGill," by Robert Westall. Pretty poor assay for a ghost story collection.