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To Be Read At Dusk
To Be Read at Dusk is a short, traditional ghost story by Charles Dickens.
26 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1852
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2867 people want to read
About the author
Charles Dickens
12.2k books31.1k followersCharles John Huffam Dickens (1812-1870) was a writer and social critic who created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and by the twentieth century critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories enjoy lasting popularity.
Dickens left school to work in a factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors' prison. Despite his lack of formal education, he edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned vigorously for children's rights, education, and other social reforms.
Dickens was regarded as the literary colossus of his age. His 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol, remains popular and continues to inspire adaptations in every artistic genre. Oliver Twist and Great Expectations are also frequently adapted, and, like many of his novels, evoke images of early Victorian London. His 1859 novel, A Tale of Two Cities, set in London and Paris, is his best-known work of historical fiction. Dickens's creative genius has been praised by fellow writers—from Leo Tolstoy to George Orwell and G. K. Chesterton—for its realism, comedy, prose style, unique characterisations, and social criticism. On the other hand, Oscar Wilde, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf complained of a lack of psychological depth, loose writing, and a vein of saccharine sentimentalism. The term Dickensian is used to describe something that is reminiscent of Dickens and his writings, such as poor social conditions or comically repulsive characters.
On 8 June 1870, Dickens suffered another stroke at his home after a full day's work on Edwin Drood. He never regained consciousness, and the next day he died at Gad's Hill Place. Contrary to his wish to be buried at Rochester Cathedral "in an inexpensive, unostentatious, and strictly private manner," he was laid to rest in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey. A printed epitaph circulated at the time of the funeral reads: "To the Memory of Charles Dickens (England's most popular author) who died at his residence, Higham, near Rochester, Kent, 9 June 1870, aged 58 years. He was a sympathiser with the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed; and by his death, one of England's greatest writers is lost to the world." His last words were: "On the ground", in response to his sister-in-law Georgina's request that he lie down.
(from Wikipedia)
Dickens left school to work in a factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors' prison. Despite his lack of formal education, he edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned vigorously for children's rights, education, and other social reforms.
Dickens was regarded as the literary colossus of his age. His 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol, remains popular and continues to inspire adaptations in every artistic genre. Oliver Twist and Great Expectations are also frequently adapted, and, like many of his novels, evoke images of early Victorian London. His 1859 novel, A Tale of Two Cities, set in London and Paris, is his best-known work of historical fiction. Dickens's creative genius has been praised by fellow writers—from Leo Tolstoy to George Orwell and G. K. Chesterton—for its realism, comedy, prose style, unique characterisations, and social criticism. On the other hand, Oscar Wilde, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf complained of a lack of psychological depth, loose writing, and a vein of saccharine sentimentalism. The term Dickensian is used to describe something that is reminiscent of Dickens and his writings, such as poor social conditions or comically repulsive characters.
On 8 June 1870, Dickens suffered another stroke at his home after a full day's work on Edwin Drood. He never regained consciousness, and the next day he died at Gad's Hill Place. Contrary to his wish to be buried at Rochester Cathedral "in an inexpensive, unostentatious, and strictly private manner," he was laid to rest in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey. A printed epitaph circulated at the time of the funeral reads: "To the Memory of Charles Dickens (England's most popular author) who died at his residence, Higham, near Rochester, Kent, 9 June 1870, aged 58 years. He was a sympathiser with the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed; and by his death, one of England's greatest writers is lost to the world." His last words were: "On the ground", in response to his sister-in-law Georgina's request that he lie down.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 352 reviews
March 20, 2025
*3.5 stars*
A spooky little tale published in 1852, by none other than Charles Dickens. Very atmospheric, and though short in length, it manages to grip the reader wanting to discover exactly what happens, as five couriers relate two strange stories against the backdrop of the brilliant white Alpine snow that appears to be dripping blood from the setting sun.
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/924/9...
A spooky little tale published in 1852, by none other than Charles Dickens. Very atmospheric, and though short in length, it manages to grip the reader wanting to discover exactly what happens, as five couriers relate two strange stories against the backdrop of the brilliant white Alpine snow that appears to be dripping blood from the setting sun.
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/924/9...
February 5, 2025
To Be Read at Dusk is a rare thing indeed; an enigmatic tale by Charles Dickens. Yes, Charles Dickens, who ties his ends up so neatly, and on whom you can rely to explain what happens to everyone, however small their role in a story, has written a tale which makes his readers scratch their heads as to what it all means. Or alternatively, if you like, you can read this one as an enjoyable ghost story. Or two ghost stories in fact, as it is a portmanteau story, so popular in the 19th century; a story within a story, Or, wait a minute, is it three? Isn’t the framing story also a ghost story? And there the arguments begin.
To Be Read at Dusk is of course, an excellent title. A time when the world seems to fade and blur, when nothing is clear. A time between light and dark, when everything is muted and hushed. An unsettling transition time, when dreams seem more real, and things recede—or perhaps emerge—from the shadows.
The story was first published in “The Keepsake” literary annual, for the Christmas of 1852. This annual of short fiction, poems and essays, ran from 1828 to 1857, and was a luxurious book, designed to appeal particularly to young ladies. The binding was lavish scarlet silk, and the engraved illustrations were very fine. Often, “literary” annuals of this type often contained second rate literature, but “The Keepsake” was a cut above the rest. The 1829 edition for instance, included contributors by such well-known classic authors as Mary Shelley, Sir Walter Scott, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Robert Southey.
Fashionable well bred young ladies of this time delighted in reading thrilling fiction; the more spine-tingling the better. For almost a century gothic novels had been their secret passion, and “horrid” novels were much in vogue. Jane Austen had famously parodied this several decades earlier, in “Northanger Abbey”. Even now such young ladies were still confined and constrained in their behaviour; rarely having their horizons broadened. Exciting reading remained their only solace.
Charles Dickens has written a very superior story indeed. It includes some of his favourite inexplicable supernatural phenomenons, such as premonitions, hauntings and phantoms, allied with psychology and what we now might call parapsychology. We have telepathy, doppelgängers and dualism, repression and guilt, the idea of fate, and psychological influences on one’s personal identity. It is all there—but then we can just sit back and enjoy a spooky tale, if we prefer.
The story begins with the narrator, whom we are soon told is a writer, idly watching and listening to a group of couriers. They are chatting outside the monastery on the summit of the Great St. Bernard mountain, in Switzerland. We assume that the eavesdropper must be Charles Dickens himself, as he had ascended the pass to get to the monastery while living in Switzerland in 1846. It provided inspiration for this story, as well as parts of “Little Dorrit” and “David Copperfield”. Charles Dickens actually lived for five months in a villa in Lausanne with his wife and family (and four servants) and wrote “Dombey and Son” there. The narrator has been driven outside because of a conversation between two American businessmen, whose constant talk of accumulating dollars, he finds unbearable. This seems further proof that he has included himself in the tale, as at the time Charles Dickens was a little anti-American.
“One, two, three, four, five. There were five of them.”
Nothing to worry about there; this is a sensible, reliable narrator. We have a Swiss, a German, two Italians: a Neapolitan and a Genoese, and … but I must have missed one, haven’t I?
And when we think of Switzerland, don’t we think of cute little chalets and glistening sunshine on snow covered mountains? And what do we get? An ominous introduction indeed, with overtones of blood:
“the remote heights stained by the setting sun as if a mighty quantity of red wine had been broached upon the mountain top, and had not yet had time to sink into the snow”
followed by an image of submerged corpses.
This seems chilling, perhaps even subversive. Why should Charles Dickens think of something so grisly. Is this a subliminal threat? Will the corpses emerge? Or are other things than bodies hidden here—or to be hidden. Interestingly Charles Dickens attributed this poetic bit of description about the setting sun to one of the couriers, not himself. He stands apart right from the start, observing.
The couriers are talking about ghosts and supernatural experiences, and are arguing about what might be supernatural, and what is merely coincidence. The German courier in particularly, is sceptical. We are about to hear two tall tales—or perhaps one or two faithful accounts—depending on what you choose to believe. The Genoese courier begins.
Interestingly, the name Clara means “bright” or “clear” and “Dellombra” means “of the shadow”. But as a story, and not merely a metaphor, we are left with many questions. What has happened to the young bride? And why did she experience these dark premonitions? Why did the husband try to persuade his wife to accept his guest, when she was clearly so terrified of him. Did he have an ulterior motive? Or is it the young wife who is dissembling, and has she had an earlier liaison with the “stranger”?
Is there any significance to to the old woman with the spindle? “Spinning a yarn”, perhaps? Or a reference to the Three Fates of Classical Mythology? Are we being told that all this is “Fate”?
The German courier scoffs:
“What do you call that?’ said the German courier, triumphantly. ‘Ghosts! There are no ghosts there! What do you call this, that I am going to tell you? Ghosts! There are no ghosts here!”
He now tells a tale, which he asserts is not a ghost story but his experience, in real life.
So ends the German courier’s story, and so too, within a few sentences, abruptly ends To Be Read at Dusk.
It is a remarkably abrupt ending. Where do the couriers disappear to? The entire piece has such a dreamlike quality, that we wonder if they were ever really there. And five? Who was the fifth? Was it the narrator? Was Charles Dickens watching himself?
To answer this, I have to return to the beginning of the story. It is not long before another dissonance hits me: a mismatch between voices. Who is telling this story?
“This is not my simile.”
This is the third sentence, and oddly it has switched to the present tense. It is as if another voice has come in, not a courier—and not the narrator either—who would surely have continued in the past tense. It must be Charles Dickens himself, keen to deny the likeness, from outside the time of the narrative. And also as a consequence, he puts the idea of “similes” in our minds.
We are told that the simile passed unnoticed:
“none of the others took any more notice of it than they took of me”.
Is this the author? Or have we returned to the eavesdropper, who is part of the narrative, and therefore exists in the past? Already we have a duality, and something hidden. By denying the likeness of the setting sun on the snow to that of wine, the author diverts us from the more sinister image which is passing through our minds, placed there by the ending of the sentence, about all the dead bodies: that the setting sun is like spilt blood:
“looking at the reddened snow, and at the lonely shed hard by, where the bodies of belated travellers, dug out of it, slowly wither away, knowing no corruption in that cold region.”
We thus begin to suspect right at the beginning, that just as under the snow, there is much hidden blood, and the simile is not so innocent after all. Perhaps each of the events in this story—perhaps even the story itself—is a simile for something else, something even more disturbing.
The couriers all insist that they do not speak of ghosts, but what else could these tales be? And here we wonder, and begin to question the power of nurture over nature, of will over fate, and of self over psychology.
The first tale could easily be called “The Stolen Bride”, and remains a classic of psychological horror: the Demon Lover genre. Perhaps its earliest incarnation was by Goethe in “The Erlking” and later Sheridan Le Fanu would make the theme famous in “Schalken the Painter”.
The palazzo hints of ruin, is “like a tomb” with a smell “grown faint with confinement” suggesting repression. The names “Dellombra and Clara” are opposites; shadows and light. Are we being told that Clara is schizophrenic, and Dellombra is either imagined, or guilt-induced, or a metaphor for her dark side; possibly a sexual desire? Dellombra bearing her off in a coach might symbolise her being driven by her own desires (or even an addiction to laudanum). The husband’s darker side might indicate that Clara lost her virginity, and Charles Dickens might be suggesting very obliquely that Clara is no longer the rider, but the hostage of the coach drawn by those dark horses.
If this seems far-fetched, then why else should Clara’s husband gradually encourage her to accept the reality of the man she first saw in her dream? It seems callous—unless it is a metaphor. An inhibited Victorian female who had led a sheltered life, might well faint at the idea (as Clara did, when she saw the face.) Perhaps the husband is not so insensitive after all, but trying to encourage his wife to see and feel the sensual or sexual desire of her “dark side”.
Or maybe after all, it is just a ghost story, and we are never to know what happened to the young wife.
The story about twins does not seem so straightforward either. The idea of those close to each other visiting each other at the point of death is a well-known phenomenon. But here, the dying brother “visited” his twin in spirit form, before he had actually died. What does this signify? Or is it just a trick, to unnerve the reader even more?
The story was written more than 30 years before “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, which was published in 1886. Yet several authors were already exploring the idea of duality of self. Charles Dickens himself was fascinated by Mesmerism. While he was in Italy he performed it on a woman, and had some success.
For me, this is by far Charles Dickens’ most mysterious ghost story, and perhaps his greatest. There is much symbolism and darkness—and I think it may be unique in his canon, as a reflexive story. He might be hedging his bets. It could be that he is writing a ghost story, or a supernatural story. But for complete sceptics, he also offers a story of psychological depths, which were all being investigated, explored and gradually defined by science. It predates Freud, Jung, and Campbell, but the questions posed here are on the nature of reality, the source of human identity, and the pull of the unconscious—those shadowy concepts which rear their ugly heads in the shadows, at dusk.
Charles Dickens is looking through his characters at the definition of a ghost, and showing us that the definition is not clear. He talks of ghosts, and of things which are not quite ghosts. The tale is deeply psychological, pondering the relationship between the conscious and unconscious. He is there inside the story, as a “watcher” and also outside it, looking in. But the numbers do not add up—and then we see that all are ghosts—even perhaps the narrator. All is semblance, or appearance; not reality.
Or perhaps he is telling us that hidden things; things which are not seen, are no less real than those which are apparent. And this is indeed a very disturbing concept for present-day readers, never mind the repressed, idealistic Victorian young ladies who first read this tale.
To Be Read at Dusk is of course, an excellent title. A time when the world seems to fade and blur, when nothing is clear. A time between light and dark, when everything is muted and hushed. An unsettling transition time, when dreams seem more real, and things recede—or perhaps emerge—from the shadows.
The story was first published in “The Keepsake” literary annual, for the Christmas of 1852. This annual of short fiction, poems and essays, ran from 1828 to 1857, and was a luxurious book, designed to appeal particularly to young ladies. The binding was lavish scarlet silk, and the engraved illustrations were very fine. Often, “literary” annuals of this type often contained second rate literature, but “The Keepsake” was a cut above the rest. The 1829 edition for instance, included contributors by such well-known classic authors as Mary Shelley, Sir Walter Scott, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Robert Southey.
Fashionable well bred young ladies of this time delighted in reading thrilling fiction; the more spine-tingling the better. For almost a century gothic novels had been their secret passion, and “horrid” novels were much in vogue. Jane Austen had famously parodied this several decades earlier, in “Northanger Abbey”. Even now such young ladies were still confined and constrained in their behaviour; rarely having their horizons broadened. Exciting reading remained their only solace.
Charles Dickens has written a very superior story indeed. It includes some of his favourite inexplicable supernatural phenomenons, such as premonitions, hauntings and phantoms, allied with psychology and what we now might call parapsychology. We have telepathy, doppelgängers and dualism, repression and guilt, the idea of fate, and psychological influences on one’s personal identity. It is all there—but then we can just sit back and enjoy a spooky tale, if we prefer.
The story begins with the narrator, whom we are soon told is a writer, idly watching and listening to a group of couriers. They are chatting outside the monastery on the summit of the Great St. Bernard mountain, in Switzerland. We assume that the eavesdropper must be Charles Dickens himself, as he had ascended the pass to get to the monastery while living in Switzerland in 1846. It provided inspiration for this story, as well as parts of “Little Dorrit” and “David Copperfield”. Charles Dickens actually lived for five months in a villa in Lausanne with his wife and family (and four servants) and wrote “Dombey and Son” there. The narrator has been driven outside because of a conversation between two American businessmen, whose constant talk of accumulating dollars, he finds unbearable. This seems further proof that he has included himself in the tale, as at the time Charles Dickens was a little anti-American.
“One, two, three, four, five. There were five of them.”
Nothing to worry about there; this is a sensible, reliable narrator. We have a Swiss, a German, two Italians: a Neapolitan and a Genoese, and … but I must have missed one, haven’t I?
And when we think of Switzerland, don’t we think of cute little chalets and glistening sunshine on snow covered mountains? And what do we get? An ominous introduction indeed, with overtones of blood:
“the remote heights stained by the setting sun as if a mighty quantity of red wine had been broached upon the mountain top, and had not yet had time to sink into the snow”
followed by an image of submerged corpses.
This seems chilling, perhaps even subversive. Why should Charles Dickens think of something so grisly. Is this a subliminal threat? Will the corpses emerge? Or are other things than bodies hidden here—or to be hidden. Interestingly Charles Dickens attributed this poetic bit of description about the setting sun to one of the couriers, not himself. He stands apart right from the start, observing.
The couriers are talking about ghosts and supernatural experiences, and are arguing about what might be supernatural, and what is merely coincidence. The German courier in particularly, is sceptical. We are about to hear two tall tales—or perhaps one or two faithful accounts—depending on what you choose to believe. The Genoese courier begins.
Interestingly, the name Clara means “bright” or “clear” and “Dellombra” means “of the shadow”. But as a story, and not merely a metaphor, we are left with many questions. What has happened to the young bride? And why did she experience these dark premonitions? Why did the husband try to persuade his wife to accept his guest, when she was clearly so terrified of him. Did he have an ulterior motive? Or is it the young wife who is dissembling, and has she had an earlier liaison with the “stranger”?
Is there any significance to to the old woman with the spindle? “Spinning a yarn”, perhaps? Or a reference to the Three Fates of Classical Mythology? Are we being told that all this is “Fate”?
The German courier scoffs:
“What do you call that?’ said the German courier, triumphantly. ‘Ghosts! There are no ghosts there! What do you call this, that I am going to tell you? Ghosts! There are no ghosts here!”
He now tells a tale, which he asserts is not a ghost story but his experience, in real life.
So ends the German courier’s story, and so too, within a few sentences, abruptly ends To Be Read at Dusk.
It is a remarkably abrupt ending. Where do the couriers disappear to? The entire piece has such a dreamlike quality, that we wonder if they were ever really there. And five? Who was the fifth? Was it the narrator? Was Charles Dickens watching himself?
To answer this, I have to return to the beginning of the story. It is not long before another dissonance hits me: a mismatch between voices. Who is telling this story?
“This is not my simile.”
This is the third sentence, and oddly it has switched to the present tense. It is as if another voice has come in, not a courier—and not the narrator either—who would surely have continued in the past tense. It must be Charles Dickens himself, keen to deny the likeness, from outside the time of the narrative. And also as a consequence, he puts the idea of “similes” in our minds.
We are told that the simile passed unnoticed:
“none of the others took any more notice of it than they took of me”.
Is this the author? Or have we returned to the eavesdropper, who is part of the narrative, and therefore exists in the past? Already we have a duality, and something hidden. By denying the likeness of the setting sun on the snow to that of wine, the author diverts us from the more sinister image which is passing through our minds, placed there by the ending of the sentence, about all the dead bodies: that the setting sun is like spilt blood:
“looking at the reddened snow, and at the lonely shed hard by, where the bodies of belated travellers, dug out of it, slowly wither away, knowing no corruption in that cold region.”
We thus begin to suspect right at the beginning, that just as under the snow, there is much hidden blood, and the simile is not so innocent after all. Perhaps each of the events in this story—perhaps even the story itself—is a simile for something else, something even more disturbing.
The couriers all insist that they do not speak of ghosts, but what else could these tales be? And here we wonder, and begin to question the power of nurture over nature, of will over fate, and of self over psychology.
The first tale could easily be called “The Stolen Bride”, and remains a classic of psychological horror: the Demon Lover genre. Perhaps its earliest incarnation was by Goethe in “The Erlking” and later Sheridan Le Fanu would make the theme famous in “Schalken the Painter”.
The palazzo hints of ruin, is “like a tomb” with a smell “grown faint with confinement” suggesting repression. The names “Dellombra and Clara” are opposites; shadows and light. Are we being told that Clara is schizophrenic, and Dellombra is either imagined, or guilt-induced, or a metaphor for her dark side; possibly a sexual desire? Dellombra bearing her off in a coach might symbolise her being driven by her own desires (or even an addiction to laudanum). The husband’s darker side might indicate that Clara lost her virginity, and Charles Dickens might be suggesting very obliquely that Clara is no longer the rider, but the hostage of the coach drawn by those dark horses.
If this seems far-fetched, then why else should Clara’s husband gradually encourage her to accept the reality of the man she first saw in her dream? It seems callous—unless it is a metaphor. An inhibited Victorian female who had led a sheltered life, might well faint at the idea (as Clara did, when she saw the face.) Perhaps the husband is not so insensitive after all, but trying to encourage his wife to see and feel the sensual or sexual desire of her “dark side”.
Or maybe after all, it is just a ghost story, and we are never to know what happened to the young wife.
The story about twins does not seem so straightforward either. The idea of those close to each other visiting each other at the point of death is a well-known phenomenon. But here, the dying brother “visited” his twin in spirit form, before he had actually died. What does this signify? Or is it just a trick, to unnerve the reader even more?
The story was written more than 30 years before “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, which was published in 1886. Yet several authors were already exploring the idea of duality of self. Charles Dickens himself was fascinated by Mesmerism. While he was in Italy he performed it on a woman, and had some success.
For me, this is by far Charles Dickens’ most mysterious ghost story, and perhaps his greatest. There is much symbolism and darkness—and I think it may be unique in his canon, as a reflexive story. He might be hedging his bets. It could be that he is writing a ghost story, or a supernatural story. But for complete sceptics, he also offers a story of psychological depths, which were all being investigated, explored and gradually defined by science. It predates Freud, Jung, and Campbell, but the questions posed here are on the nature of reality, the source of human identity, and the pull of the unconscious—those shadowy concepts which rear their ugly heads in the shadows, at dusk.
Charles Dickens is looking through his characters at the definition of a ghost, and showing us that the definition is not clear. He talks of ghosts, and of things which are not quite ghosts. The tale is deeply psychological, pondering the relationship between the conscious and unconscious. He is there inside the story, as a “watcher” and also outside it, looking in. But the numbers do not add up—and then we see that all are ghosts—even perhaps the narrator. All is semblance, or appearance; not reality.
Or perhaps he is telling us that hidden things; things which are not seen, are no less real than those which are apparent. And this is indeed a very disturbing concept for present-day readers, never mind the repressed, idealistic Victorian young ladies who first read this tale.
August 4, 2020
This review is for the spooky title story by Charles Dickens, "To Be Read at Dusk," published in 1852. You can download or read this story for free here at Project Gutenberg.
The unnamed narrator happens across five couriers sitting on a bench near a Swiss mountain, the Great St. Bernard, "looking at the remote heights, stained by the setting sun as if a mighty quantity of red wine had been broached upon the mountain top, and had not yet had time to sink into the snow." <--Read: It's bloody red, and the imagery is underscored by the bodies of unlucky travelers stored in a nearby shed.
The couriers begin to talk of ghost stories - but not your ordinary ghosts. One story is of a young wife who has a portentous vision of a dark man that haunts her. The other story is of two twin brothers: when one brother falls ill, he tells the other brother, who is leaving on a long trip, "If I get quite better, I’ll come back and see you before you go. If I don’t feel well enough to resume my visit where I leave it off, why you will come and see me before you go." And apparently he REALLY means it.
This is a haunting story (or really three stories: two framed by a third) that can be read on a few different levels. Are there ghosts? Or is it a purely psychological tale, with no real ghosts, just people frightening themselves? Or is Dickens, perhaps, telling us a deeper tale, using symbolism?
I was scratching my head over some of the aspects of this tale and how to interpret them, so I went on a Google search and came across the most fascinating essay here: https://journals.openedition.org/jsse.... It’s a little dense and scholarly but has some really intriguing ideas in it. I recommend it if you want to do a deep dive!
Group read with the Dickensians! group.
The unnamed narrator happens across five couriers sitting on a bench near a Swiss mountain, the Great St. Bernard, "looking at the remote heights, stained by the setting sun as if a mighty quantity of red wine had been broached upon the mountain top, and had not yet had time to sink into the snow." <--Read: It's bloody red, and the imagery is underscored by the bodies of unlucky travelers stored in a nearby shed.
The couriers begin to talk of ghost stories - but not your ordinary ghosts. One story is of a young wife who has a portentous vision of a dark man that haunts her. The other story is of two twin brothers: when one brother falls ill, he tells the other brother, who is leaving on a long trip, "If I get quite better, I’ll come back and see you before you go. If I don’t feel well enough to resume my visit where I leave it off, why you will come and see me before you go." And apparently he REALLY means it.
This is a haunting story (or really three stories: two framed by a third) that can be read on a few different levels. Are there ghosts? Or is it a purely psychological tale, with no real ghosts, just people frightening themselves? Or is Dickens, perhaps, telling us a deeper tale, using symbolism?
I was scratching my head over some of the aspects of this tale and how to interpret them, so I went on a Google search and came across the most fascinating essay here: https://journals.openedition.org/jsse.... It’s a little dense and scholarly but has some really intriguing ideas in it. I recommend it if you want to do a deep dive!
Group read with the Dickensians! group.
October 13, 2020
Trece historias de fantasmas o relacionadas con lo paranormal. Como todo libro de relatos hay algunas historias que te atrapan más que otras, aunque debo decir que la mayoría me han gustado mucho. Que nadie espere tensas historias de terror ni nada por estilo, en la actualidad este tipo de narraciones no asustan ni a los niños.
Sin embargo, es muy agradable leerlas y transportarte a hace 150 años cuando la gente se reunía a contar este tipo de historias a la luz del fuego y las velas con la expectación del miedo y los pelillos de punta.
De las 13 escogería estas como mis favoritas:
-"El fantasma en la habitación de la desposada": es una historia redonda donde el miedo se centra en el poder que una persona puede ejercer sobre otra hasta ser capaz de llevarla a la muerte, y matar sin remordimiento hasta que el miedo a ser descubierto se apodera de ti. (escrito a cuatro manos entre Dickens y Wilkie Collins)
-"Fantasmas de Navidad": una breve narración con muchas historias sobre fantasmas hogareños, que puedes encontrar en cualquier mansión a la que, normalmente, podrías ir a pasar unos días de visita por navidad.
-"La historia del retratista": narra las circunstancias por las que un pintor termina haciendo un cuadro de una joven recientemente fallecida.
-"El capitán asesino y el pacto con el diablo": de cómo las historias que nos cuentan y leemos nos acompañan durante toda la vida, convirtiéndose a veces en refugio y a veces en pesadilla.
Sin embargo, es muy agradable leerlas y transportarte a hace 150 años cuando la gente se reunía a contar este tipo de historias a la luz del fuego y las velas con la expectación del miedo y los pelillos de punta.
De las 13 escogería estas como mis favoritas:
-"El fantasma en la habitación de la desposada": es una historia redonda donde el miedo se centra en el poder que una persona puede ejercer sobre otra hasta ser capaz de llevarla a la muerte, y matar sin remordimiento hasta que el miedo a ser descubierto se apodera de ti. (escrito a cuatro manos entre Dickens y Wilkie Collins)
-"Fantasmas de Navidad": una breve narración con muchas historias sobre fantasmas hogareños, que puedes encontrar en cualquier mansión a la que, normalmente, podrías ir a pasar unos días de visita por navidad.
-"La historia del retratista": narra las circunstancias por las que un pintor termina haciendo un cuadro de una joven recientemente fallecida.
-"El capitán asesino y el pacto con el diablo": de cómo las historias que nos cuentan y leemos nos acompañan durante toda la vida, convirtiéndose a veces en refugio y a veces en pesadilla.
November 4, 2025
Unas historias que considero ideales para leer intercalando con otras lecturas porque al tratar todas un mismo tema (los fantasmas) puede terminar saturando. O no. Eso ya es un tema que va en gustos.
Yo al menos lo he disfrutado mucho más así, aunque Mariana Enriquez logró hipnotizarme por completo con "Nuestra parte de noche" y eso hizo que tardara más de lo que pensaba en leer el presente libro de cuentos.
Mis favoritos han sido ⤵️
▪️El guardavías.
▪️El fantasma en la habitación de la desposada.
▪️Fantasmas de Navidad.
▪️Cuatro historias de fantasmas.
▪️La historia del retratista.
▪️El Capitán asesino y el pacto con el Diablo.
Los relatos destacan por su lograda ambientación, ideal para leer durante las frías noches de invierno, por su construcción de personajes y por esa sátira tan característica del autor, muy presente en todos los cuentos pero especialmente en el relato titulado "Pálpitos confirmados", un tipo de humor que no logró lo pretendido.
Es más, este en concreto se me hizo bastante tedioso y confuso.
Muy pronto reseña ⤵️
https://www.facebook.com/LaLocadelosL... 🖤👻📚✨
Yo al menos lo he disfrutado mucho más así, aunque Mariana Enriquez logró hipnotizarme por completo con "Nuestra parte de noche" y eso hizo que tardara más de lo que pensaba en leer el presente libro de cuentos.
Mis favoritos han sido ⤵️
▪️El guardavías.
▪️El fantasma en la habitación de la desposada.
▪️Fantasmas de Navidad.
▪️Cuatro historias de fantasmas.
▪️La historia del retratista.
▪️El Capitán asesino y el pacto con el Diablo.
Los relatos destacan por su lograda ambientación, ideal para leer durante las frías noches de invierno, por su construcción de personajes y por esa sátira tan característica del autor, muy presente en todos los cuentos pero especialmente en el relato titulado "Pálpitos confirmados", un tipo de humor que no logró lo pretendido.
Es más, este en concreto se me hizo bastante tedioso y confuso.
Muy pronto reseña ⤵️
https://www.facebook.com/LaLocadelosL... 🖤👻📚✨
October 26, 2021
I’m currently reading Little Dorrit which has scenes set at the Great Saint Bernard Hospice, Saint Bernard Pass. Thank you, Bionic Jean, for information on this short story which is also set there. It’s easy to imagine Dickens gathering people around a roaring fire on a winter’s evening to tell them this spooky story, smelling salts to hand!
October 6, 2019
Excellent, atmospheric, creepy Victorian ghost story by the best in the buisness.
What better way to re start my Sunday shorts series. I read The signalman today.
I watched the BBC tv adaptation with Denholm Elliot years ago and loved that too.
A 5* start for me.
What better way to re start my Sunday shorts series. I read The signalman today.
I watched the BBC tv adaptation with Denholm Elliot years ago and loved that too.
A 5* start for me.
September 16, 2021
”That which glitters is not always gold, but what I am going to tell, is true.”
To Be Read at Dusk is a 24-page horror story published in 1852. An unnamed narrator has stopped at a mountainous roadside shelter for travelers near to sunset. He notices a group of couriers sitting on benches smoking, talking, and swapping spooky campfire stories. The narrator moves closer, taking a seat on an opposite bench to the five men, so he may better hear what’s being said. Each man’s trying to impress upon the others a story that is more preternatural than the last. This a story within a story frame – the narrator’s story being in the present with each story swapped by the men recalled from sometime in their past.
This was a tame story shelved as horror sans gore. None of the tales were frightening in my opinion (and I’m a scaredy cat). I didn’t even find the yarns that interesting. Despite the excellent writing, if this would have been longer, I might not have finished it.
It was a lot to pack in just a few pages that characterization was scant. I would have liked to have known the narrator in more detail, or he could have had a preternatural occurrence himself later in the story. It just needed a way to connect the unrelated tales overheard by the narrator. He overhears the stories, and it just ends – that all.
I enjoy reading spooky tales about this time of the year, but this was just okay for me. Diehard fans of Dickens may have a differing opinion.
To Be Read at Dusk is a 24-page horror story published in 1852. An unnamed narrator has stopped at a mountainous roadside shelter for travelers near to sunset. He notices a group of couriers sitting on benches smoking, talking, and swapping spooky campfire stories. The narrator moves closer, taking a seat on an opposite bench to the five men, so he may better hear what’s being said. Each man’s trying to impress upon the others a story that is more preternatural than the last. This a story within a story frame – the narrator’s story being in the present with each story swapped by the men recalled from sometime in their past.
This was a tame story shelved as horror sans gore. None of the tales were frightening in my opinion (and I’m a scaredy cat). I didn’t even find the yarns that interesting. Despite the excellent writing, if this would have been longer, I might not have finished it.
It was a lot to pack in just a few pages that characterization was scant. I would have liked to have known the narrator in more detail, or he could have had a preternatural occurrence himself later in the story. It just needed a way to connect the unrelated tales overheard by the narrator. He overhears the stories, and it just ends – that all.
I enjoy reading spooky tales about this time of the year, but this was just okay for me. Diehard fans of Dickens may have a differing opinion.
February 9, 2020
Ghosts?
Dickens’s short story To Be Read at Dusk was published in The Keepsake in 1852. I did not know what The Keepsake was and so had a look at Wikipedia, where I learned that it was a literary annual running from 1828 to 1857 containing short fiction, poems, essays and engraved illustrations. Apparently one of the target groups were young ladies, which I would never have guessed from the story itself. The Keepsake was started by the engraver Charles Heath, and though – as to Wikipedia – the literature published is often regarded second-rate, among the contributors there were a lot of well-known and important authors of the Romantic period. Among the contributors of the 1829 edition, you can find Sir Walter Scott, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Shelley and Southey. Nevertheless, after reading the story I had an idea why the contributions to that annual anthology could be considered second-rate because To Be Read at Dusk falls short of what I am used to when I read Dickens.
The story starts interestingly enough, making us share the perspective of the narrator, who, disgusted with the boasts of an American fellow-traveller – Dickens still seems to be under the influence of the anti-Americanism he so scathingly displayed in Martin Chuzzlewit –, leaves the guest-room and decides to listen to the talk of five couriers:
This atmosphere of cold beauty, of the majestic grandeur of nature, apparently affects the couriers, who soon start talking about supernatural experiences, debating whether they can be explained away by putting them down to mere coincidence, or whether something more uncanny is lurking in the shadows. One story centres on an English couple, newly wedded, the bride being haunted in her dreams by the vision ”of a dark, remarkable-looking man, in black, with black hair and a grey moustache - a handsome man except for a reserved and secret air.” This face does not do anything but simply regards her from out of a veil of impenetrable darkness. In the course of their honeymoon, the bride makes the acquaintance of a man taken home to them by her own husband, an Italian calling himself Dellombra – of all names – and this man, as you can easily guess, is the spitting image of the mysterious nightmare face. The husband, however, takes no heed of his wife’s apprehensions, and so Fate takes its course.
The other story, told by the German courier, centres on the doppelgänger motif and the foreshadowing of the death of a relative. It is not as original as the first story, and it ends quite abruptly, triggering the end of the whole piece, which left me rather unsatisfied.
The story was not particularly scary and despite the magnificent beginning, it could have been written by other writers but the Inimitable as well. It also lacked Dickens’s typical humour, and I could not help thinking that he wrote it because for some reason or other he had agreed to contribute a piece to The Keepsake and now had to fulfil his promise.
Dickens’s short story To Be Read at Dusk was published in The Keepsake in 1852. I did not know what The Keepsake was and so had a look at Wikipedia, where I learned that it was a literary annual running from 1828 to 1857 containing short fiction, poems, essays and engraved illustrations. Apparently one of the target groups were young ladies, which I would never have guessed from the story itself. The Keepsake was started by the engraver Charles Heath, and though – as to Wikipedia – the literature published is often regarded second-rate, among the contributors there were a lot of well-known and important authors of the Romantic period. Among the contributors of the 1829 edition, you can find Sir Walter Scott, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Shelley and Southey. Nevertheless, after reading the story I had an idea why the contributions to that annual anthology could be considered second-rate because To Be Read at Dusk falls short of what I am used to when I read Dickens.
The story starts interestingly enough, making us share the perspective of the narrator, who, disgusted with the boasts of an American fellow-traveller – Dickens still seems to be under the influence of the anti-Americanism he so scathingly displayed in Martin Chuzzlewit –, leaves the guest-room and decides to listen to the talk of five couriers:
” One, two, three, four, five. There were five of them.
Five couriers, sitting on a bench outside the convent on the summit of the Great St. Bernard in Switzerland, looking at the remote heights, stained by the setting sun as if a mighty quantity of red wine had been broached upon the mountain top, and had not yet had time to sink into the snow.
This is not my simile. It was made for the occasion by the stoutest courier, who was a German. None of the others took any more notice of it than they took of me, sitting on another bench on the other side of the convent door, smoking my cigar, like them, and - also like them - looking at the reddened snow, and at the lonely shed hard by, where the bodies of belated travellers, dug out of it, slowly wither away, knowing no corruption in that cold region.”
This atmosphere of cold beauty, of the majestic grandeur of nature, apparently affects the couriers, who soon start talking about supernatural experiences, debating whether they can be explained away by putting them down to mere coincidence, or whether something more uncanny is lurking in the shadows. One story centres on an English couple, newly wedded, the bride being haunted in her dreams by the vision ”of a dark, remarkable-looking man, in black, with black hair and a grey moustache - a handsome man except for a reserved and secret air.” This face does not do anything but simply regards her from out of a veil of impenetrable darkness. In the course of their honeymoon, the bride makes the acquaintance of a man taken home to them by her own husband, an Italian calling himself Dellombra – of all names – and this man, as you can easily guess, is the spitting image of the mysterious nightmare face. The husband, however, takes no heed of his wife’s apprehensions, and so Fate takes its course.
The other story, told by the German courier, centres on the doppelgänger motif and the foreshadowing of the death of a relative. It is not as original as the first story, and it ends quite abruptly, triggering the end of the whole piece, which left me rather unsatisfied.
The story was not particularly scary and despite the magnificent beginning, it could have been written by other writers but the Inimitable as well. It also lacked Dickens’s typical humour, and I could not help thinking that he wrote it because for some reason or other he had agreed to contribute a piece to The Keepsake and now had to fulfil his promise.
April 28, 2022
I guess you could say I'm a tad disappointed with this. For some odd reason over quarantine, I became obsessed with collecting Charles Dickens' work (despite having never read anything by him until now), and now I have a ridiculous amount of 600+ page classics that I have no idea when I'll get to.
This little collection of short ghost stories is hard for me to review. I found Dickens' writing to be hard to read in the beginning, but as I read, each story became easier for me to digest than the one before it. I don't know if this is purely because I was getting the hang of his writing, or if the stories were just getting more and more digestible, but I almost didn't understand anything in the first story and I adored the last story. I definitely think The Trial for Murder was the best story in this collection. It was the easiest to read and the most suspenseful for me. To Be Read at Dusk, I think was the weakest.
Something I noticed about these stories is that I had a really difficult time visualising the scenery of the stories. As if the writing wasn't difficult enough for me to understand, I could hardly even picture the scenes that made up each story. Again, this got easier as I continued to read, so I'm not sure if the last story was written the most clearly or if I just got used to it, but my experience definitely became more enjoyable as my reading went on.
I'm really glad I started here with Dickens. Even though I didn't love this like I wanted to, I think it was valuable for me to ease my way into his work with 15 page long stories, rather than jumping in to David Copperfield, which is around 900 pages long. Now that I have a grasp on the type of writer Charles Dickens is, I think I won't be so taken aback when I jump into one of his full length novels.
This little collection of short ghost stories is hard for me to review. I found Dickens' writing to be hard to read in the beginning, but as I read, each story became easier for me to digest than the one before it. I don't know if this is purely because I was getting the hang of his writing, or if the stories were just getting more and more digestible, but I almost didn't understand anything in the first story and I adored the last story. I definitely think The Trial for Murder was the best story in this collection. It was the easiest to read and the most suspenseful for me. To Be Read at Dusk, I think was the weakest.
Something I noticed about these stories is that I had a really difficult time visualising the scenery of the stories. As if the writing wasn't difficult enough for me to understand, I could hardly even picture the scenes that made up each story. Again, this got easier as I continued to read, so I'm not sure if the last story was written the most clearly or if I just got used to it, but my experience definitely became more enjoyable as my reading went on.
I'm really glad I started here with Dickens. Even though I didn't love this like I wanted to, I think it was valuable for me to ease my way into his work with 15 page long stories, rather than jumping in to David Copperfield, which is around 900 pages long. Now that I have a grasp on the type of writer Charles Dickens is, I think I won't be so taken aback when I jump into one of his full length novels.
August 1, 2020
Atmospheric, dense, multi-layered, and complex!!
It's a short ghost story, but cunningly and grippingly written..
Indeed a riveting read!!!
You can see and experience the master and real king of the Victorian Period at work..
A genuine pleasure!!
After reading it, I'm still pondering again and again over the characters..
Dickens gives you something nagging and relentness wich refuses to let you go..
It does compell and force the reader to think and complete the story in his mind..
I loved it, only I wish that it would have been somewhat longer..
A quick and rewarding rea, full recommendation indeed!!
Dean;)
It's a short ghost story, but cunningly and grippingly written..
Indeed a riveting read!!!
You can see and experience the master and real king of the Victorian Period at work..
A genuine pleasure!!
After reading it, I'm still pondering again and again over the characters..
Dickens gives you something nagging and relentness wich refuses to let you go..
It does compell and force the reader to think and complete the story in his mind..
I loved it, only I wish that it would have been somewhat longer..
A quick and rewarding rea, full recommendation indeed!!
Dean;)
August 3, 2020
A narrator eavesdropping on five couriers who are relating two stories as the setting sun is shedding light like wine (blood?) on the white Alpine snow. I confess to being a bit overwhelmed at first, but once I got into the story, quite enjoyed it. However, I learned from the Dickensian group I missed half of what I should have seen. Well, it is Dickens, so I am not surprised how much is packed even in a short story. It is best to read with others to learn 'the rest ... ' Otherwise, be sure to check out some good on-line resource for more info.
November 2, 2019
Dickens nos regala una serie de terroríficos relatos cortos que tienen como punto fuerte una ambientación única que te transporta a la escena, pero por contra, su trama es un tanto floja, lo que hace que no termines de enfrascarte del todo en la narración.
Las notas que les doy:
1. Para leer al anochecer 3
2. El guardavías 5
3. El juicio por asesinato 4
4. La casa encantada 3
5. El fantasma de la habitación de la desposada 3
6. El letrado y el fantasma 3
7. Fantasmas de Navidad 3
8. Cuatro historias de fantasmas 3
9. Pálpitos confirmados 2
10. La visita del señor Testador 3
11. La historia del retratista 4
12. El Capitán Asesino y el pacto con el diablo 4
13. El niño que soñó con una estrella 2
Las notas que les doy:
1. Para leer al anochecer 3
2. El guardavías 5
3. El juicio por asesinato 4
4. La casa encantada 3
5. El fantasma de la habitación de la desposada 3
6. El letrado y el fantasma 3
7. Fantasmas de Navidad 3
8. Cuatro historias de fantasmas 3
9. Pálpitos confirmados 2
10. La visita del señor Testador 3
11. La historia del retratista 4
12. El Capitán Asesino y el pacto con el diablo 4
13. El niño que soñó con una estrella 2
October 21, 2015
Read hereOpening: One, two, three, four, five. There were five of them.
Five couriers, sitting on a bench outside the convent on the summit of the Great St. Bernard in Switzerland, looking at the remote heights, stained by the setting sun as if a mighty quantity of red wine had been broached upon the mountain top, and had not yet had time to sink into the snow.
Very short story of spiritual affairs.
May 17, 2016
3.5 stars. As many other readers have already pointed out, these stories are not very scary by today's standards. But they are a bit spooky, especially if you read them at night, home alone, just before going to bed.
August 2, 2020
This review is for "To Be Read at Dusk" alone.
A brilliantly layered ghost story by the inimitable Charles Dickens. If you think Marley and the spirits of Christmas are his only ghosts, think again. He wrote dozens of ghostly tales and this one is very well done. Happy reading.
A brilliantly layered ghost story by the inimitable Charles Dickens. If you think Marley and the spirits of Christmas are his only ghosts, think again. He wrote dozens of ghostly tales and this one is very well done. Happy reading.
August 2, 2020
"To Be Read at Dusk" was a clever short story about premonitions, ghosts, and unexplained events.
January 28, 2024
A short book containing three stories telling of deadly premonitions, the interception of dreams, and spectres bearing warnings.
The stories are called 'To Be Read at Dusk', 'The Signalman', and 'The Trial for Murder'.
'The Signalman' is the most famous of the three and is worth reading a second time. It's even Doctor Who's favourite short story. The narrator visits a signalman at a remote station who tells of seeing a ghostly figure, a premonition of a disaster. The narrator goes to visit him a second time, but....well I can't say as that would be a spoiler.
The stories are called 'To Be Read at Dusk', 'The Signalman', and 'The Trial for Murder'.
'The Signalman' is the most famous of the three and is worth reading a second time. It's even Doctor Who's favourite short story. The narrator visits a signalman at a remote station who tells of seeing a ghostly figure, a premonition of a disaster. The narrator goes to visit him a second time, but....well I can't say as that would be a spoiler.
August 21, 2023
meh on the ghost story at the surface But:
"There were five of them. Five couriers, sitting on a bench outside the convent on the summit of the Great St. Bernard in Switzerland, looking at the remote heights, stained by the setting sun as if a mighty quantity of red wine had been broached upon the mountain top, and had not yet had time to sink into the snow.
This is not my simile. None of them took any more notice of it than they took of me."
There's a little puzzle in this story right on page one: the numbers don't add up- who is this "me"? Dickens himself, eavesdropping on the couriers conversation? Presumably it would make sense to insert himself into the narrative as he briefly lived in Switzerland, at the Villa Rosemont just outside Lausanne on the shores of Lake Geneva.
... but then what's with the dead bodies in the shed?
There is more to this than meets the eye.
"There were five of them. Five couriers, sitting on a bench outside the convent on the summit of the Great St. Bernard in Switzerland, looking at the remote heights, stained by the setting sun as if a mighty quantity of red wine had been broached upon the mountain top, and had not yet had time to sink into the snow.
This is not my simile. None of them took any more notice of it than they took of me."
There's a little puzzle in this story right on page one: the numbers don't add up- who is this "me"? Dickens himself, eavesdropping on the couriers conversation? Presumably it would make sense to insert himself into the narrative as he briefly lived in Switzerland, at the Villa Rosemont just outside Lausanne on the shores of Lake Geneva.
... but then what's with the dead bodies in the shed?
There is more to this than meets the eye.
October 12, 2020
SPOOKTOBER'S HERE!
fulfilling my shortie Spooktober challenge to read one spooky short story a day.
Day one: The Magic Shop by H.G. Wells
Day two: Everything's Fine by Matthew Pridham
Day three: It Came From Hell and Smashed the Angels by Gregor Xane
Day four: Sometimes They Come Back by Stephen King
Day five: The Curse of Yig by H.P. Lovecraft
Day six: The Spook House by Ambrose Bierce
Day seven: An Account of Some Strange Disturbances in Aungier Street by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
Day eight: The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe
Day nine: Graveyard Shift by Stephen King
Day ten: Bitter Grounds by Neil Gaiman
Day eleven: Finding Emma by Matthew Iden
Dickens is not everyone’s cup of tea, but I do enjoy the way he writes. Victorian gothic with a hint of the ghosties and a hint of social commentary. I read the titular, To Be Read at Dusk, from this collection only. It is nowhere near my beloved Great Expectations, but it was decent and ghosty and atmospheric.
Our story starts with an unnamed narrator listening to five couriers tell ghost stories on the top of a Swiss Mountain outside of a convent. There is some eerie imagery of the setting sun staining the white mountaintop blood red, and death is alluded to in a nearby shed.
The couriers are discussing the world’s oddities, coincidences and happenings that are not totally rational, including the presence of some paranormal entities. The story of our narrator sitting on the mountain frames two more stories, the first told of an Italian courier relating the story of a man he worked for and his poor tormented and haunted wife. The second tale, slightly more eerie but not nearly as complex, is told by a German courier about two brothers and the bonds that connect them that sometimes transcend the realm of the normal.
My favorite parts were the beginning and the ending which are the “story” that frame the other two. Dickens has left a lot of symbols there to pick up on if you read close enough. No spoilers here, but you can read this on the web for free to see for yourself!
http://www.online-literature.com/dick...
3.5 stars
fulfilling my shortie Spooktober challenge to read one spooky short story a day.
Day one: The Magic Shop by H.G. Wells
Day two: Everything's Fine by Matthew Pridham
Day three: It Came From Hell and Smashed the Angels by Gregor Xane
Day four: Sometimes They Come Back by Stephen King
Day five: The Curse of Yig by H.P. Lovecraft
Day six: The Spook House by Ambrose Bierce
Day seven: An Account of Some Strange Disturbances in Aungier Street by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
Day eight: The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe
Day nine: Graveyard Shift by Stephen King
Day ten: Bitter Grounds by Neil Gaiman
Day eleven: Finding Emma by Matthew Iden
Dickens is not everyone’s cup of tea, but I do enjoy the way he writes. Victorian gothic with a hint of the ghosties and a hint of social commentary. I read the titular, To Be Read at Dusk, from this collection only. It is nowhere near my beloved Great Expectations, but it was decent and ghosty and atmospheric.
Our story starts with an unnamed narrator listening to five couriers tell ghost stories on the top of a Swiss Mountain outside of a convent. There is some eerie imagery of the setting sun staining the white mountaintop blood red, and death is alluded to in a nearby shed.
None of the others took any more notice of it than they took of me, sitting on another bench on the other side of the convent door, smoking my cigar, like them, and - also like them - looking at the reddened snow, and at the lonely shed hard by, where the bodies of belated travellers, dugout of it, slowly wither away, knowing no corruption in that cold region.
The couriers are discussing the world’s oddities, coincidences and happenings that are not totally rational, including the presence of some paranormal entities. The story of our narrator sitting on the mountain frames two more stories, the first told of an Italian courier relating the story of a man he worked for and his poor tormented and haunted wife. The second tale, slightly more eerie but not nearly as complex, is told by a German courier about two brothers and the bonds that connect them that sometimes transcend the realm of the normal.
My favorite parts were the beginning and the ending which are the “story” that frame the other two. Dickens has left a lot of symbols there to pick up on if you read close enough. No spoilers here, but you can read this on the web for free to see for yourself!
http://www.online-literature.com/dick...
3.5 stars
October 22, 2015
Project Gutenberg - http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/924
A short story not scary by today's standards, but a worthy read nonetheless.
A short story not scary by today's standards, but a worthy read nonetheless.
December 11, 2024
11/12/2024
2024 reads book 64
That which glitters is not always gold; but what I am going to tell, is true.’
The Signalman: 4 stars
The Trial for Murder: 5 stars
To Be Read at Dusk: 3 stars
Good little collection with ghost stories, but the title story was the least interesting one! Loved The Trial For Murder, and thought The Signalman was pretty great too. The title story however left me wanting a little more, since there were no real answers to the stories that our main character overheard.
2024 reads book 64
That which glitters is not always gold; but what I am going to tell, is true.’
The Signalman: 4 stars
The Trial for Murder: 5 stars
To Be Read at Dusk: 3 stars
Good little collection with ghost stories, but the title story was the least interesting one! Loved The Trial For Murder, and thought The Signalman was pretty great too. The title story however left me wanting a little more, since there were no real answers to the stories that our main character overheard.
May 20, 2024
for the record it was read at dusk
April 7, 2019
This was a joy. Although, what else can one really expect from Dickens?
Anyone who’s had the pleasure to read A Christmas Carol can appreciate the mastery Dickens applies to a ghost story. Penguin have included three of his haunting short stories in this addition to the Little Black Classics range. And, since I’ve been growing increasingly disinterested in the range itself, I was very glad they did.
Although none of the three can be described as terrifying, there are underlying tones of tension and unease throughout all of the stories. Dickens knows how to unsettle, how to perfectly add feelings of the unnatural, and how to expertly garner engagement. I’d never thought to seek out any shorter works of Dickens, but after writing this, seeking out more (ghostly or otherwise) is the first thing I’ll do.
I couldn’t pick a favourite of these three; his skill permeated each of them in equal measures. His stiff upper lipped protagonists being faced with the inexplicable was just completely gorgeous, and his writing, as ever, was completely flawless.
An utter master of fiction, and my one true love. Happy birthday, baby.
Anyone who’s had the pleasure to read A Christmas Carol can appreciate the mastery Dickens applies to a ghost story. Penguin have included three of his haunting short stories in this addition to the Little Black Classics range. And, since I’ve been growing increasingly disinterested in the range itself, I was very glad they did.
Although none of the three can be described as terrifying, there are underlying tones of tension and unease throughout all of the stories. Dickens knows how to unsettle, how to perfectly add feelings of the unnatural, and how to expertly garner engagement. I’d never thought to seek out any shorter works of Dickens, but after writing this, seeking out more (ghostly or otherwise) is the first thing I’ll do.
I couldn’t pick a favourite of these three; his skill permeated each of them in equal measures. His stiff upper lipped protagonists being faced with the inexplicable was just completely gorgeous, and his writing, as ever, was completely flawless.
An utter master of fiction, and my one true love. Happy birthday, baby.
December 14, 2020
Group read for The Old Curiosity Club Group for Feb 2020.
The version I read was actually from the Oxford Illustrated Dickens, The Uncommercial Traveller and Reprinted Pieces. My version was quite short and the first part was good but with an ending section that for me did not fit at all. I just did not get it.
The version I read was actually from the Oxford Illustrated Dickens, The Uncommercial Traveller and Reprinted Pieces. My version was quite short and the first part was good but with an ending section that for me did not fit at all. I just did not get it.
December 25, 2020
What an interesting, ghostly story! Delightfully told, truly Dickensian and entertaining.
Dickens has interwoven three ghostly tales into one short story that is fun, spooky, entertaining and all things Dickens.
I'm glad to have found this little gem through a group read in the group, The Dickensians!
(18 pages in my e-edition)
Dickens has interwoven three ghostly tales into one short story that is fun, spooky, entertaining and all things Dickens.
I'm glad to have found this little gem through a group read in the group, The Dickensians!
(18 pages in my e-edition)
June 14, 2019
It was a nice read
January 26, 2022
A very short "story in a story in a story" about ghosts and paranormal happenings. Free from Amazon for Kindle.
What two words describe a sunset? Blood and wine!
What two words describe a sunset? Blood and wine!
December 23, 2022
€3 penguin classics are what’s keeping me alive at this point
May 12, 2021
Algunos de los relatos son muy buenos, y te inspiran simpatía hacia ciertos personajes. Otros me resultaron un poco aburridos. En todo caso, no es un libro que dé miedo. Imagino que en el siglo XIX la gente era mucho más susceptible, pero para el lector de hoy estos relatos no son demasiado fantasmagóricos.
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