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A Quaint and Curious Volume: Tales and Poems of the Gothic
Uncanny. Mysterious. Eerie. Gothic . It draws us in with its air of mystery and repels us with its violence and darkness. But who were the first practitioners of the now-prevalent genre? This curated book collects the works of such masters as Edgar Allan Poe, Christina Rossetti and Mary Shelley, who with flickering candles, mysterious castles and chilling ravens first frightened and delighted readers. With a brilliantly insightful introduction by Sarah Perry, the contemporary master of the gothic genre, this book will immerse and entangle you in the roots of the gothic. Just be careful not to get lost.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published September 5, 2019
16 people are currently reading
575 people want to read
About the author
Sarah Perry
24 books2,105 followersSarah Perry was born in Essex in 1979, and was raised as a Strict Baptist. Having studied English at Anglia Ruskin University she worked as a civil servant before studying for an MA in Creative Writing and a PhD in Creative Writing and the Gothic at Royal Holloway, University of London. In 2004 she won the Spectator's Shiva Naipaul Award for travel writing.
In January 2013 she was Writer-in-Residence at Gladstone's Library. Here she completed the final draft of her first novel, After Me Comes the Flood , which was published by Serpent's Tail in June 2014 to international critical acclaim. It won the East Anglian Book of the Year Award 2014, and was longlisted for the 2014 Guardian First Book Award and nominated for the 2014 Folio Prize. In January and February 2016 Sarah was the UNESCO City of Literature Writer-in-Residence in Prague.
Her second novel, The Essex Serpent , was published by Serpent's Tail in May 2016. It was a number one bestseller in hardback, and was named Waterstones Book of the Year 2016. It was shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award 2017, and was longlisted for the Bailey's Women's Prize for Fiction 2017, the Wellcome Book Prize, the International Dylan Thomas Prize, and the New Angle Prize for Literature. It was broadcast on Radio 4 as a Book at Bedtime in April 2017, is being translated into eleven languages, and has been chosen for the Richard and Judy Summer Book Club 2017.
Sarah has spoken at a number of institutions including Gladstone's Library, the Centre of Theological Inquiry at Princeton, and the Anglo-American University in Prague, on subjects including theology, the history and status of friendship in literature, the Gothic, and Foxe's Book of Martyrs. Her essays have been published in the Guardian and the Spectator, and broadcast on BBC Radio 4. She reviews fiction for the Guardian and the Financial Times.
She currently lives in Norwich, where she is completing her third novel.
In January 2013 she was Writer-in-Residence at Gladstone's Library. Here she completed the final draft of her first novel, After Me Comes the Flood , which was published by Serpent's Tail in June 2014 to international critical acclaim. It won the East Anglian Book of the Year Award 2014, and was longlisted for the 2014 Guardian First Book Award and nominated for the 2014 Folio Prize. In January and February 2016 Sarah was the UNESCO City of Literature Writer-in-Residence in Prague.
Her second novel, The Essex Serpent , was published by Serpent's Tail in May 2016. It was a number one bestseller in hardback, and was named Waterstones Book of the Year 2016. It was shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award 2017, and was longlisted for the Bailey's Women's Prize for Fiction 2017, the Wellcome Book Prize, the International Dylan Thomas Prize, and the New Angle Prize for Literature. It was broadcast on Radio 4 as a Book at Bedtime in April 2017, is being translated into eleven languages, and has been chosen for the Richard and Judy Summer Book Club 2017.
Sarah has spoken at a number of institutions including Gladstone's Library, the Centre of Theological Inquiry at Princeton, and the Anglo-American University in Prague, on subjects including theology, the history and status of friendship in literature, the Gothic, and Foxe's Book of Martyrs. Her essays have been published in the Guardian and the Spectator, and broadcast on BBC Radio 4. She reviews fiction for the Guardian and the Financial Times.
She currently lives in Norwich, where she is completing her third novel.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 24, 2021
November 2019, Rating: 5/5 stars
April 2021, Rating: 5/5 stars
This book is a lustrous wonder, and all it contains are no different. This combines a collection of Gothic poems and short tales from the Victorian era, all loosely themed around five tarot cards: The Lovers, Wheel of Fortune, The Tower, The Magician, and The Devil.
I had already read the majority of the contents and this contained a few number of my personal favourites, but it was pleasant to revisit something so well-known, well-loved, and have them combined in a volume of such evocative beauty. The only sections that did not appeal were the small snippets taken from longer Gothic works. I prefer not to read samples and would instead invest the time to read the entire thing. This formed merely a handful of pages, over the course of the collection, and there were still untold wonders surrounding them for me to enjoy and adore.
Individual ratings:
The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe - 5/5 stars
Porphyria's Lover by Robert Browning - 5/5 stars
The Song of Wandering Aengus by William Butler Yeats - 4/5 stars
Berenice by Edgar Allan Poe - 3.5/5 stars
The Wedding-Knell by Nathaniel Hawthorne - 3/5 stars
The Darkling Thrush by Thomas Hardy - 4/5 stars
The Old Nurse's Story by Elizabeth Gaskell - 5/5 stars
The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe - 5/5 stars
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman - 5/5 stars
The Body-Snatcher by Robert Louis Stevenson - 4/5 stars
The Dream Woman by Wilkie Collins - 3.5/5 stars
Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti - 5/5 stars
The Tapestried Chamber by Sir Walter Scott - 4/5 stars
The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe - 5/5 stars
April 2021, Rating: 5/5 stars
This book is a lustrous wonder, and all it contains are no different. This combines a collection of Gothic poems and short tales from the Victorian era, all loosely themed around five tarot cards: The Lovers, Wheel of Fortune, The Tower, The Magician, and The Devil.
I had already read the majority of the contents and this contained a few number of my personal favourites, but it was pleasant to revisit something so well-known, well-loved, and have them combined in a volume of such evocative beauty. The only sections that did not appeal were the small snippets taken from longer Gothic works. I prefer not to read samples and would instead invest the time to read the entire thing. This formed merely a handful of pages, over the course of the collection, and there were still untold wonders surrounding them for me to enjoy and adore.
Individual ratings:
The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe - 5/5 stars
Porphyria's Lover by Robert Browning - 5/5 stars
The Song of Wandering Aengus by William Butler Yeats - 4/5 stars
Berenice by Edgar Allan Poe - 3.5/5 stars
The Wedding-Knell by Nathaniel Hawthorne - 3/5 stars
The Darkling Thrush by Thomas Hardy - 4/5 stars
The Old Nurse's Story by Elizabeth Gaskell - 5/5 stars
The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe - 5/5 stars
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman - 5/5 stars
The Body-Snatcher by Robert Louis Stevenson - 4/5 stars
The Dream Woman by Wilkie Collins - 3.5/5 stars
Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti - 5/5 stars
The Tapestried Chamber by Sir Walter Scott - 4/5 stars
The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe - 5/5 stars
July 12, 2023
O que me interessava aqui era o Vampiro de Polidori. Mas os demais contos também são ótimos.
October 13, 2020
I was bought the hardback as a gift and it is a beautiful book, the chapter titles have wonderful graphics, and I have discovered a few more authors within this book who I did not know before, I did not like all the stories but that it the risk of a compilation (it turns out I don't think much of Edgar Allen Poe).
August 3, 2023
A great Gothic book
This book holds brilliant poem and short stories with element of mysterious and Gothic vibe . It was amazing reading the short stories coming from different authors . There are some of my favourite stories but all the stories are fabulous. The stories are very well structured and unpredictable.
Recommended to every Gothic book lover
This book holds brilliant poem and short stories with element of mysterious and Gothic vibe . It was amazing reading the short stories coming from different authors . There are some of my favourite stories but all the stories are fabulous. The stories are very well structured and unpredictable.
Recommended to every Gothic book lover
November 3, 2022
The quintessential read for October including my personal favs from Nathaniel Hawthorne, Poe, as well as the short story The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Quaint, no. Curious for more? Indeed!
November 5, 2024
The extracts were frustrating, as I then had to pause and go elsewhere to read the full stories.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews