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Gaddar Öyküler
“Kalbime bıçak soktuktan sonra bir de teşekkür mü bekliyorsun?”
İngiliz yazar Edith Nesbit’in zamanında çeşitli dergilerde yayımlandıktan sonra 1893’te Gaddar Öyküler başlığı altında bir araya getirilen korku öyküleri, hem yazarın kariyeri hem de yazıldıkları dönem bağlamında büyük önem taşıyor. Genellikle çocuklara yönelik eserler kaleme almasıyla bilinen Nesbit’in çok farklı ve yaratıcı bir yönünü sergileyen bu yedi öykü, korku edebiyatının yeniden canlandığı 1890’ların önemli eserleri arasında yer alıyor. Tekinsiz portrelerin, ölümden dönenlerin, mantıkla açıklanamayan, hayal mi gerçek mi sorusunu sorduran vakaların anlatıldığı bu esrarengiz öykülerde Nesbit, gotik edebiyattan aldığı mirası ustaca kullanıyor.
“Edith Nesbit, hayalet öyküsü tutkunlarına göre türün en saygın temsilcilerindendir.”
David Stuart Davies
İngiliz yazar Edith Nesbit’in zamanında çeşitli dergilerde yayımlandıktan sonra 1893’te Gaddar Öyküler başlığı altında bir araya getirilen korku öyküleri, hem yazarın kariyeri hem de yazıldıkları dönem bağlamında büyük önem taşıyor. Genellikle çocuklara yönelik eserler kaleme almasıyla bilinen Nesbit’in çok farklı ve yaratıcı bir yönünü sergileyen bu yedi öykü, korku edebiyatının yeniden canlandığı 1890’ların önemli eserleri arasında yer alıyor. Tekinsiz portrelerin, ölümden dönenlerin, mantıkla açıklanamayan, hayal mi gerçek mi sorusunu sorduran vakaların anlatıldığı bu esrarengiz öykülerde Nesbit, gotik edebiyattan aldığı mirası ustaca kullanıyor.
“Edith Nesbit, hayalet öyküsü tutkunlarına göre türün en saygın temsilcilerindendir.”
David Stuart Davies
96 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1893
33 people are currently reading
225 people want to read
About the author
E. Nesbit
1,031 books997 followers
Edith Nesbit
(married name Edith Bland; 15 August 1858 – 4 May 1924) was an English author and poet; she published her books for children under the name of E. Nesbit.
She wrote or collaborated on over 60 books of fiction for children, several of which have been adapted for film and television. She was also a political activist and co-founded the Fabian Society, a socialist organisation later connected to the Labour Party.
Edith Nesbit was born in Kennington, Surrey, the daughter of agricultural chemist and schoolmaster John Collis Nesbit. The death of her father when she was four and the continuing ill health of her sister meant that Nesbit had a transitory childhood, her family moving across Europe in search of healthy climates only to return to England for financial reasons. Nesbit therefore spent her childhood attaining an education from whatever sources were available—local grammars, the occasional boarding school but mainly through reading.
At 17 her family finally settled in London and aged 19, Nesbit met Hubert Bland, a political activist and writer. They became lovers and when Nesbit found she was pregnant they became engaged, marrying in April 1880. After this scandalous (for Victorian society) beginning, the marriage would be an unconventional one. Initially, the couple lived separately—Nesbit with her family and Bland with his mother and her live-in companion Maggie Doran.
Initially, Edith Nesbit books were novels meant for adults, including The Prophet's Mantle (1885) and The Marden Mystery (1896) about the early days of the socialist movement. Written under the pen name of her third child 'Fabian Bland', these books were not successful. Nesbit generated an income for the family by lecturing around the country on socialism and through her journalism (she was editor of the Fabian Society's journal, Today).
In 1899 she had published The Adventures of the Treasure Seekers to great acclaim.
She wrote or collaborated on over 60 books of fiction for children, several of which have been adapted for film and television. She was also a political activist and co-founded the Fabian Society, a socialist organisation later connected to the Labour Party.
Edith Nesbit was born in Kennington, Surrey, the daughter of agricultural chemist and schoolmaster John Collis Nesbit. The death of her father when she was four and the continuing ill health of her sister meant that Nesbit had a transitory childhood, her family moving across Europe in search of healthy climates only to return to England for financial reasons. Nesbit therefore spent her childhood attaining an education from whatever sources were available—local grammars, the occasional boarding school but mainly through reading.
At 17 her family finally settled in London and aged 19, Nesbit met Hubert Bland, a political activist and writer. They became lovers and when Nesbit found she was pregnant they became engaged, marrying in April 1880. After this scandalous (for Victorian society) beginning, the marriage would be an unconventional one. Initially, the couple lived separately—Nesbit with her family and Bland with his mother and her live-in companion Maggie Doran.
Initially, Edith Nesbit books were novels meant for adults, including The Prophet's Mantle (1885) and The Marden Mystery (1896) about the early days of the socialist movement. Written under the pen name of her third child 'Fabian Bland', these books were not successful. Nesbit generated an income for the family by lecturing around the country on socialism and through her journalism (she was editor of the Fabian Society's journal, Today).
In 1899 she had published The Adventures of the Treasure Seekers to great acclaim.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
March 19, 2023
Spooky old tales. Enjoyed the stories!
December 28, 2022
Tam da ait olduğu yüzyılı yansıtan gotik öyküler! Bulup çıkarmak, çeviri programına alıp iyi bir çevirmene teslim etmek, ortaya çıkan işi, başarıyı açıklıyor sanırım. E. Nesbit çağının yangınını edebiyatı, seçtiği gizem, korku unsurları ile süsleyerek oradan bize sesleniyor. "Onu siz de gördünüz mü, duydunuz mu?" Bu onun tam da bize yapacağı türden bir şey.
January 30, 2020
A somewhat uneven collection of ghost or horror stories by a favorite author of mine.
"The Ebony Frame" - my favorite story. A man inherits a house and its furnishings from his aunt. Among the items in the attic is the painting of a beautiful woman that casts a spell over him.This is a tale of past lives, star-crossed love, possible second chances - and a bargain with the devil.
"John Charrington's Wedding" - basically the retelling of an old folk song/story. Very well done.
"Uncle Abraham's Romance" - an old man recounts the tale of his one true love - whom he met next to a cemetery.
"The Mystery of the Semi-Detached" - a young man has a vision of his girlfriend's murder and tries to prevent it.
"From the Dead" - the weakest story of the lot. A man feels he has been deceived by his wife. The wife's reason for her behavior is not very believable and the ghostly aspect of the story is pretty weak.
"Man-Size in Marble" - a genuinely creepy tale that starts out with the cheerful depiction of a happy pair of newlyweds living in their first home, but quickly changes into a tale of growing terror. There is a very effective audiobook version on LibriVox.
"The Mass for the Dead" - a man who is about to lose the love of his life to another finds himself haunted by the sounds of a funeral mass - but whose funeral mass? This is not really a scary story, but is intriguing.
This is an interesting collection of stories, but except for "Man-Size in Marble" and "The Ebony Frame," they are not very scary.
"The Ebony Frame" - my favorite story. A man inherits a house and its furnishings from his aunt. Among the items in the attic is the painting of a beautiful woman that casts a spell over him.This is a tale of past lives, star-crossed love, possible second chances - and a bargain with the devil.
"John Charrington's Wedding" - basically the retelling of an old folk song/story. Very well done.
"Uncle Abraham's Romance" - an old man recounts the tale of his one true love - whom he met next to a cemetery.
"The Mystery of the Semi-Detached" - a young man has a vision of his girlfriend's murder and tries to prevent it.
"From the Dead" - the weakest story of the lot. A man feels he has been deceived by his wife. The wife's reason for her behavior is not very believable and the ghostly aspect of the story is pretty weak.
"Man-Size in Marble" - a genuinely creepy tale that starts out with the cheerful depiction of a happy pair of newlyweds living in their first home, but quickly changes into a tale of growing terror. There is a very effective audiobook version on LibriVox.
"The Mass for the Dead" - a man who is about to lose the love of his life to another finds himself haunted by the sounds of a funeral mass - but whose funeral mass? This is not really a scary story, but is intriguing.
This is an interesting collection of stories, but except for "Man-Size in Marble" and "The Ebony Frame," they are not very scary.
February 10, 2023
Great narration by a guy named Peter Yearsley. The stories were kind of samey.
July 10, 2017
A short collection of seven ghostly tales by the author better known for her works for younger readers, like The Railway Children and Five Children and It. Of the seven, two are extraordinarily slight (one has the feel of a retold urban legend), and most of the seven are a tad predictable in that they hinge on the meme of love being more powerful than death.
That said, I really enjoyed four of the stories.
The eponymous frame of "The Ebony Frame" surrounds a painting of a beautiful woman that our journalist narrator finds, clipped together with a painting of his own double but clad in archaic garb, when going through the attic of an inherited family home. The woman in the painting emerges to tell him that, if he sells his soul to the Devil like she did centuries ago, they can spend the rest of a mortal lifetime together before the inevitable descent (in her case re-descent) to Hell.
In "From the Dead" a new wife admits to her husband that she employed some trickery to inveigle him into marriage. Even though he's overjoyed to be wedded to her, he petulantly drives her away and then, immediately realizing his stupidity, can't find her. Until months later, when he's a matter of hours too late to have a final rapprochement with her before her death from childbirth. Predictably -- within the context of this collection, although less so in the context of this story on its own -- she rises from her deathbed one last time . . . Again, a story that I really liked.
"The Mass for the Dead" sees a woman change her mind the night before her marriage to a rich man whom she doesn't love because she hears ghostly funereal music on the air. She instead elopes with the poor man whom she does love, and who also heard that ethereally beautiful music. But for whom was the music being played . . .? This is perhaps the tale I enjoyed most in the collection, although it's not really a ghost story so much as a fantasy.
The star of the show is undoubtedly "Man-size in Marble," about a young husband who foolishly ignores local warnings that the marble grave effigies of two evil knights of yore rise up on All Souls' Night and heaven spare anyone whom they might meet on their travels. Of all the tales here, this is the creepiest: there's a definite frisson of fear, and of that terrifying futility you find in anxiety dreams.
I've read both "The Ebony Frame" and "Man-size in Marble" before, presumably in anthologies of classic ghost stories. The book is available from Project Gutenberg, and is well the hour or two spent reading it.
That said, I really enjoyed four of the stories.
The eponymous frame of "The Ebony Frame" surrounds a painting of a beautiful woman that our journalist narrator finds, clipped together with a painting of his own double but clad in archaic garb, when going through the attic of an inherited family home. The woman in the painting emerges to tell him that, if he sells his soul to the Devil like she did centuries ago, they can spend the rest of a mortal lifetime together before the inevitable descent (in her case re-descent) to Hell.
In "From the Dead" a new wife admits to her husband that she employed some trickery to inveigle him into marriage. Even though he's overjoyed to be wedded to her, he petulantly drives her away and then, immediately realizing his stupidity, can't find her. Until months later, when he's a matter of hours too late to have a final rapprochement with her before her death from childbirth. Predictably -- within the context of this collection, although less so in the context of this story on its own -- she rises from her deathbed one last time . . . Again, a story that I really liked.
"The Mass for the Dead" sees a woman change her mind the night before her marriage to a rich man whom she doesn't love because she hears ghostly funereal music on the air. She instead elopes with the poor man whom she does love, and who also heard that ethereally beautiful music. But for whom was the music being played . . .? This is perhaps the tale I enjoyed most in the collection, although it's not really a ghost story so much as a fantasy.
The star of the show is undoubtedly "Man-size in Marble," about a young husband who foolishly ignores local warnings that the marble grave effigies of two evil knights of yore rise up on All Souls' Night and heaven spare anyone whom they might meet on their travels. Of all the tales here, this is the creepiest: there's a definite frisson of fear, and of that terrifying futility you find in anxiety dreams.
I've read both "The Ebony Frame" and "Man-size in Marble" before, presumably in anthologies of classic ghost stories. The book is available from Project Gutenberg, and is well the hour or two spent reading it.
April 1, 2015
All of the stories get 2 stars, except for Man-Size in Marble which gets 4 stars. All of the stories are of the supernatural kind, but aren't too original. Most have a twist ending, but you can easily predict what the twist will be. Only Man-Size in Marble is a bit original and it has a great spooky atmosphere. If you read this collection, start with that story first. The rest I really cannot recommend.
October 31, 2019
I remember reading E. Nesbit's stories as a child and always enjoying them. I only recently discovered that she'd written these short horror stories for adults. They are, as with all her books, well-written but also very eerie and sinister tales.
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April 21, 2016I thought the other reviewers were a bit unfair about the unoriginality of these tales. Ghost stories, perhaps more than other genres, rely more on their telling than their novelty. In any case, I thought that, in contrast with, say, those of MR James, which these remind me of somewhat, these are more romantic and invariably tragic. If romantic equates to corny for you, then you won't find these particularly enjoyable. Call me strange but I only really enjoy romance when it's a) somehow involved with the supernatural and/or b) tragic, and a good tragic romantic ghost story I find somehow satisfying. These brief diversions fall into that category.
March 17, 2017
Grim indeed. Witty, chilling, dark little tales to shiver the bones.
October 12, 2025
The perfect spooky stories for a grey autumnal day.
September 26, 2023
Kara Çınar Serisi'ne tebriklerle başlayalım: "Karanlığın Gücü"nün (Laputa) olamadığı ne varsa bu kitap o; oradaki tek iyi hikayenin buradaki en zayıf halka olduğunu söylesem herhalde övgümün derecesi anlaşılır. Hayalet hikayesi yazmak kolaydır ama okuru "artık" şaşırtacak, sürükleyecek, biriktirdiği lezzeti son lokmada tarumar etmeyip tadını damakta bırakacak öyküler yazmak kolay değil, onları bir araya topladığınız antolojinin toplu bir harmoni tutturması da öyle.
Çocuk kitaplarıyla tanıdığımız İngiliz yazar Nesbit bu derlemede korkutmaktan ziyade duyguları harekete geçirmeyi tercih etmiş, çok da iyi yapmış: Sevdiğini kaybeden adamların "artık" ölümsüz olana duydukları aşk ("Somewhere in Time"), yüz yılda bir canlanan Golemvari (Nils Holgersson serisinin bir bölümüne de konuk olmuş) menfur yaratıklar, Agatha Christie bilmecelerini andırır cinayetler... Ölüm ve aşk doğaüstü ile birleşince zaten ortaya ebediyete emanet söylenceler çıkıyor ve biz bunlara folklor diyoruz. Korku folklorune bu kitapla sunduğu katkıyla kendine münhasır bir yer edinen Nesbit'i kütüphanenize davet etmemek gaddarlığına düşmemeniz üzere, hikayelerin adlarını da paylaşıyorum:
Abanoz Çerçeve
John Charrington'un Düğünü
Abraham Amcanın Aşk Macerası
Yarı Müstakil Evin Esrarı
Ölülerden
Mermerden Oyma Adam
Ölüler Ayini
Çocuk kitaplarıyla tanıdığımız İngiliz yazar Nesbit bu derlemede korkutmaktan ziyade duyguları harekete geçirmeyi tercih etmiş, çok da iyi yapmış: Sevdiğini kaybeden adamların "artık" ölümsüz olana duydukları aşk ("Somewhere in Time"), yüz yılda bir canlanan Golemvari (Nils Holgersson serisinin bir bölümüne de konuk olmuş) menfur yaratıklar, Agatha Christie bilmecelerini andırır cinayetler... Ölüm ve aşk doğaüstü ile birleşince zaten ortaya ebediyete emanet söylenceler çıkıyor ve biz bunlara folklor diyoruz. Korku folklorune bu kitapla sunduğu katkıyla kendine münhasır bir yer edinen Nesbit'i kütüphanenize davet etmemek gaddarlığına düşmemeniz üzere, hikayelerin adlarını da paylaşıyorum:
Abanoz Çerçeve
John Charrington'un Düğünü
Abraham Amcanın Aşk Macerası
Yarı Müstakil Evin Esrarı
Ölülerden
Mermerden Oyma Adam
Ölüler Ayini
February 7, 2020
I've read this collection in preparation for narrating an audiobook version.
I enjoyed all the stories, Man-Sized In Marble particularly stands out and The Ebony Frame is also very good. The Semi-Detached is enjoyable for its succinctness and subtle wit. The others are also good and the writing, particularly the prose style is excellent throughout although some of the stories are bit "lightweight".
One thing that strikes me is the apparent mysogeny throughout the book - odd from a female writer, I thought.
Nesbit was a fan of long, convoluted sentences - at times a paragraph long - quite the challenge for a narrator!
I enjoyed all the stories, Man-Sized In Marble particularly stands out and The Ebony Frame is also very good. The Semi-Detached is enjoyable for its succinctness and subtle wit. The others are also good and the writing, particularly the prose style is excellent throughout although some of the stories are bit "lightweight".
One thing that strikes me is the apparent mysogeny throughout the book - odd from a female writer, I thought.
Nesbit was a fan of long, convoluted sentences - at times a paragraph long - quite the challenge for a narrator!
December 31, 2017
Another selection from choosing "random" on Project Gutenberg. This time, it's a collection of weird tales from E. Nesbit, better known for her children's novels. It turns out I had encountered one of her horror stories before, as "From the Dead" appears in the Dover collection The Cold Embrace: Weird Stories by Women. It's about what you'd expect from the turn of the century, heavy on the people trapped in portraits and ghostly lovers. "Man-Size in Marble" is the standout, creepy and unusual.
March 16, 2020
I enjoyed all the stories, Man-Sized In Marble particularly stands out and The Ebony Frame is also very good. The Semi-Detached is enjoyable for its succinctness and subtle wit. The others are also good and the writing, particularly the prose style is excellent throughout although some of the stories are bit "lightweight".
One thing that strikes me is the apparent mysogeny throughout the book - odd from a female writer, I thought.
Nesbit was a fan of long, convoluted sentences - at times a paragraph long - quite the challenge for a narrator!
One thing that strikes me is the apparent mysogeny throughout the book - odd from a female writer, I thought.
Nesbit was a fan of long, convoluted sentences - at times a paragraph long - quite the challenge for a narrator!
February 8, 2014
short slightly creepy stories.
November 5, 2016
I found this on All You Can Read Books.com as an audiobook. It was pleasant enough to listen to with some interesting tales.
July 17, 2018
An excellent collection of spine-tingling ghost stories
March 6, 2024
Seven stories about women, their menfolk, and sadly, about how women's rights have often been infringed upon throughout the ages.
The women's names/family relationship are: Mildred, May Forster, Susannah Kingsnorth, a stockbroker's daughter, Ida Helmot, Kate and Laura.
The women are from good families and lived in the London area and small villages throughout England.
1. The Ebony Frame
Instead of his finance, Mr. Devigne prefers another woman, from his past, who appears in a supernatural ebony picture frame from historical times.
The picture frame is in his house in Chelsea.
His fiance is called Mildred and she is a sweet if rather superficial in keeping with the traditional upbringing of wealthy young ladies of the time.
2.John Charrington's Wedding - Geoffrey recounts how a woman he likes, May Forster, marries John, in a supernatural wedding ceremony in a small village Brixham.
Geoffrey worries about May, in part, because John, an Oxford graduate, is less than responsive to his future wife’s feelings and wishes before their marriage.
3.Uncle Abraham’s Romance -
Susannah Kingsnorth d. 1713 is unable to keep up her supernatural appearance in a graveyard, when Abraham, as a young man, is not able to return from Bath (for health reasons) for a rendez-vous that Susannah had stipulated had had to take place before a new moon in 1813.
Susannah had been betrothed to an ancestor but had died before the wedding. This story is related by Abraham, in his old age, to his niece.
4. Semi-detached.
A young man is suspicious about a semi-detached house near Crystal Palace where his fiance is living.
He had seen something suspicious at the house while he was waiting for her one evening and the doors had been left open. Noone takes him seriously and his fiance thinks the front door was left open by the servants.
Later on he marries his fiance and moves away. He warns the subsequent tenants, a stockbroker and his daughter of a frightening supernatural occurrence that is to occur on October 21.
5. From the Dead
Ida Helmot goes to Apinshaw Farm, Mellor, Derbyshire without telling her husband where she is, after a misunderstanding about a letter between her husband (Arthur) and herself. The letter is purportedly from Arthur’s former girlfriend, Elvire, to Ida’s brother, Oscar Helmot.
Ida brings the letter to Arthur’s attend while they are at a seaside lodging . Ida had formerly lived on Gower Street in Hampstead, London. Arthur is distraught about her disappearance, as is her brother Oscar, and Arthur tries to locate her, to no avail.
Ida notifies her husband of her whereabouts after she has had their baby at the isolated farmstead. Arthur is haunted by his wife’s loving nature, in his extreme sadness.
6. .Mass for the Dead
A women, Kate, who marries her true love, a studen in Germany, is happy when her former fiance in an arranged marriage (Mr. Benoliel) doesn’t require a dowry to be repaid.
Mr. Benoliel had been on his way to where their honeymoon would have been in Devonshire, and Kate and her husband subsequently attend a mass for the dead.
7. Man-size in Marble
This story is about the supernatural marble statues that are in the church in Brenzett.
The statues are of two men who had formerly lived in the manor house where Laura and her husband have taken up residence in what remains of the men’s house, a small cottage.
Consider these stories in relation to E. M. Forster's Howards End and other early twentieth century British fiction.
The women's names/family relationship are: Mildred, May Forster, Susannah Kingsnorth, a stockbroker's daughter, Ida Helmot, Kate and Laura.
The women are from good families and lived in the London area and small villages throughout England.
1. The Ebony Frame
Instead of his finance, Mr. Devigne prefers another woman, from his past, who appears in a supernatural ebony picture frame from historical times.
The picture frame is in his house in Chelsea.
His fiance is called Mildred and she is a sweet if rather superficial in keeping with the traditional upbringing of wealthy young ladies of the time.
2.John Charrington's Wedding - Geoffrey recounts how a woman he likes, May Forster, marries John, in a supernatural wedding ceremony in a small village Brixham.
Geoffrey worries about May, in part, because John, an Oxford graduate, is less than responsive to his future wife’s feelings and wishes before their marriage.
3.Uncle Abraham’s Romance -
Susannah Kingsnorth d. 1713 is unable to keep up her supernatural appearance in a graveyard, when Abraham, as a young man, is not able to return from Bath (for health reasons) for a rendez-vous that Susannah had stipulated had had to take place before a new moon in 1813.
Susannah had been betrothed to an ancestor but had died before the wedding. This story is related by Abraham, in his old age, to his niece.
4. Semi-detached.
A young man is suspicious about a semi-detached house near Crystal Palace where his fiance is living.
He had seen something suspicious at the house while he was waiting for her one evening and the doors had been left open. Noone takes him seriously and his fiance thinks the front door was left open by the servants.
Later on he marries his fiance and moves away. He warns the subsequent tenants, a stockbroker and his daughter of a frightening supernatural occurrence that is to occur on October 21.
5. From the Dead
Ida Helmot goes to Apinshaw Farm, Mellor, Derbyshire without telling her husband where she is, after a misunderstanding about a letter between her husband (Arthur) and herself. The letter is purportedly from Arthur’s former girlfriend, Elvire, to Ida’s brother, Oscar Helmot.
Ida brings the letter to Arthur’s attend while they are at a seaside lodging . Ida had formerly lived on Gower Street in Hampstead, London. Arthur is distraught about her disappearance, as is her brother Oscar, and Arthur tries to locate her, to no avail.
Ida notifies her husband of her whereabouts after she has had their baby at the isolated farmstead. Arthur is haunted by his wife’s loving nature, in his extreme sadness.
6. .Mass for the Dead
A women, Kate, who marries her true love, a studen in Germany, is happy when her former fiance in an arranged marriage (Mr. Benoliel) doesn’t require a dowry to be repaid.
Mr. Benoliel had been on his way to where their honeymoon would have been in Devonshire, and Kate and her husband subsequently attend a mass for the dead.
7. Man-size in Marble
This story is about the supernatural marble statues that are in the church in Brenzett.
The statues are of two men who had formerly lived in the manor house where Laura and her husband have taken up residence in what remains of the men’s house, a small cottage.
Consider these stories in relation to E. M. Forster's Howards End and other early twentieth century British fiction.
September 27, 2022
I had no idea Edith Nesbit wrote for adults, but, since she did, it makes sense she'd write at least some horror.
A total of seven stories, they're darkly creepy rather than filled with screaming, dramatic incidents of terror, and gore.
A man in love is approached by another woman he knows with a letter his beloved wrote to the woman's brother--a passionate love letter. He ends his engagement, and gradually, comes to love, and marry, the woman who exposed the truth. But was it the truth? Was the letter a forgery? Can the answer to both questions be "yes"? He makes a tragically wrong decision, and has a tragically dark encounter.
A rather shallow young man inherits his aunt's property, and in the attic he finds two carefully hidden portraits--a woman wearing a black velvet gown, and a man who is, unmistakably, him. This despite teh fact that he's dressed like a cavalier of an earlier century. He becomes obsessed with the woman in the portrait.
A man and his wife, he a writer and she a painter, buy a charming little house in the country. The man is warned to keep the door locked on Halloween, and told a frightening but obviously ridiculous story about the two stone effigy knights in church not far from the house. Since it is obviously ridiculous, he forgets to do so, and moreover goes for an evening walk, leaving his wife alone in the house.
These are well-written and enjoyable tales, but this collection was first published in 1904, and the stories themselves may have been written even earlier. There are strong, intelligent women here, but we also have husbands who call their wives "child." It's a late 19th/early 20th century sensibility, and irritating sometimes.
Worth a read if you're prepared to make allowances for that. Nesbit was a very good writer.
I got this audiobook free via LibriVox, and am reviewing it voluntarily.
A total of seven stories, they're darkly creepy rather than filled with screaming, dramatic incidents of terror, and gore.
A man in love is approached by another woman he knows with a letter his beloved wrote to the woman's brother--a passionate love letter. He ends his engagement, and gradually, comes to love, and marry, the woman who exposed the truth. But was it the truth? Was the letter a forgery? Can the answer to both questions be "yes"? He makes a tragically wrong decision, and has a tragically dark encounter.
A rather shallow young man inherits his aunt's property, and in the attic he finds two carefully hidden portraits--a woman wearing a black velvet gown, and a man who is, unmistakably, him. This despite teh fact that he's dressed like a cavalier of an earlier century. He becomes obsessed with the woman in the portrait.
A man and his wife, he a writer and she a painter, buy a charming little house in the country. The man is warned to keep the door locked on Halloween, and told a frightening but obviously ridiculous story about the two stone effigy knights in church not far from the house. Since it is obviously ridiculous, he forgets to do so, and moreover goes for an evening walk, leaving his wife alone in the house.
These are well-written and enjoyable tales, but this collection was first published in 1904, and the stories themselves may have been written even earlier. There are strong, intelligent women here, but we also have husbands who call their wives "child." It's a late 19th/early 20th century sensibility, and irritating sometimes.
Worth a read if you're prepared to make allowances for that. Nesbit was a very good writer.
I got this audiobook free via LibriVox, and am reviewing it voluntarily.
December 30, 2024
I was listening to a YT lecture on gothic novels, and she was talking about this Nesbit short story collection. I had no idea she wrote things like this. OR perhaps I did not put it together, because some seemed familiar when I read them.
3 stars
3 stars
December 24, 2023
As you might guess, Edith Nesbit, better known for her children’s books of course, writes her horror with a unique style - a sort of gentle, almost cosy, type of horror.
These seven stories are amongst her earliest work, so most likely when she wasn’t quite sure which direction her writing would take. I don’t think the horror genre missed her, though I’m sure the genre of children’s books would have done had she not taken that route.
The darker the story is the more a snippet of black humour works; readers relish the respite from terror, if only very briefly. So for me, these stories, pleasant as they are, won’t stick in my mind. They’re a diversion, but a bland one at that.
These seven stories are amongst her earliest work, so most likely when she wasn’t quite sure which direction her writing would take. I don’t think the horror genre missed her, though I’m sure the genre of children’s books would have done had she not taken that route.
The darker the story is the more a snippet of black humour works; readers relish the respite from terror, if only very briefly. So for me, these stories, pleasant as they are, won’t stick in my mind. They’re a diversion, but a bland one at that.
February 1, 2024
Edith Nesbit bu öyķüleri 1893'te yazmış o nedenle gotik edebiyatın ilk örnekleri denilebilir 7 adet tekinsiz ama gaddar olmayan öykülerden oluşuyor bu öyküleri zamanımızın kısa, sadece tedirgin eden anlatılırken bir anda ÖLMÜŞTÜÜÜ! diye yüksek sesle volumelenip etrafı korkutmaya yönelik olan anlatılara benzettim. Başkaları tarafından övülebilir ama 2024 dünyasında !!!! öyle pek de tedirgin etmeyen çerez ve bol tekrarlı öykülerdi keske pdf versiyonundan okusaymışım kitap fuarından almıştım artan feci kitap fiyatlarında cebime boş yere zahmet ettim.
September 19, 2024
İçinde yedi tane tekinsiz olarak sınıflandırabileceğimiz öykü bulunuyor. Fakat bu öykülerden hiçbiri "gaddar" değil. Yalnızca doğaüstü unsurlardan yararlanan, gizemli, mistik hikâyeler. Her hikâyede anlatılan konular neredeyse aynı. İşlenişler de aynı. Bu sebeple kendi içerisinde tekrara düşen bir eser olmuş. Farklılık, çeşitlilik neredeyse yok. Sınırlarını aşamamış "korkumsu" bir kitap diyebiliriz Gaddar Öyküler için.
July 31, 2019
It took me several tries before I could get into the stories and whenever I paused the audio, I kept forgetting what was said before. This is a collection of decent, supernatural stories with love and relationships as the central theme. There are deals with the devil, the dead returning to marry their beloved or speak to their spouse, and visions and premonitions of death.
Read
January 2, 2021A wonderful collection of short and shivery tales. Seven stories rich with dark atmosphere, filled with witches, ghosts, doomed love and dark secrets, pull you into a grim world where death and bizarre happenings are never far away.
July 15, 2021
This is an enchanting collection of supernatural tales beautifully told. I enjoyed the descriptive language, realistic dialogue, and Victorian themes of love and honor interwoven with the spooky tales.
January 3, 2024
1800’lü yıllara ait hayalet öyküleri. Tam da o dönemi yansıtan öyküler bunlar, basit diyenler olmuş ama bu türün ilk örneklerinin bu dönemde yazıldığını unutmasınlar. Çevirmen de mükemmel bir iş çıkarmış. Bu yazarın bir başka eseri olan Karanlığın Gücü’nü de okumak istiyorum en yakın zamanda.
July 9, 2017
Not as bone chilling as I expected. I like the LibriVox free audio book though; Peter Yearsley is a very good narrator.
January 20, 2021
It was, despite flat characters, entertaining but not scary.
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