Among the Shadows: Tales from the Darker Side

by L.M. Montgomery, Rea Wilmshurst

These nineteen fascinating stories are unlike any others L.M. Montgomery ever wrote. Filled with strange and supernatural occurrences, they are peopled with drunkards, embezzlers, and A woman confesses to murder after she has passed away. . . . A righteous deacon gets a taste of his own bitter medicine. . . . An amateur photographer records a dark deed. . . . The ghost of a woman's sweetheart comes to bid her good-bye. . . . Somber, dark, and brooding, these intriguing stories suggest that love really can last beyond death and that poetic justice does exist. Each of these wonderful tales is full of the strength of Montgomery's own inner resources.

Genres: Short Stories, Classics, Fiction, Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Mystery, Romance

280 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 1, 1990

About the author

Lucy Maud Montgomery was a Canadian author, best known for a series of novels beginning with Anne of Green Gables, published in 1908.

Montgomery was born at Clifton, Prince Edward Island, Nov. 30, 1874. She came to live at Leaskdale, north of Uxbridge Ontario, after her wedding with Rev. Ewen Macdonald on July 11, 1911. She had three children and wrote close to a dozen books while she was living in the Leaskdale Manse before the family moved to Norval, Ontario in 1926. She died in Toronto April 24, 1942 and was buried at Cavendish, Prince Edward Island.

Reviews

[Melki · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of mildly eerie tales from the creator of Anne of Green Gables. I was hoping for some good, old-fashioned ghost stories, but most of these tales seem to dwell more on the criminal element than the supernatural. The story I most enjoyed involved an elderly woman who is nervous about her first train journey. She ends up being coaxed through the experience by a man whom she later discovers was not quite the gentleman he seemed.

Many of the stories passed from my memory almost as soon as I had finished them, and that's really the worst thing I can say about this collection. I'd recommend the book to anyone looking for some darker, but not really scary stories for the spooky season.

[Manybooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although Among the Shadows: Tales From the Darker Side ranks amongst my favourite of the Rea Wilmshurt thematic L.M. Montgomery short story collections, like with ALL such compilations, there are inclusions that I have absolutely loved, some that I have only mildly appreciated and even a select few stories that I have personally rather majorly despised (and no, Among the Shadows: Tales From the Darker Side is not really in any manner a collection of mostly horror tales either, although there are indeed a number of ghost and a few stories I have found a bit strange and creepy, including the longest tale, Some Fools and a Saint even though in that story, ALL of the weird and freakily creepy, unnerving goings on have actually and in fact been caused not by the unnatural, not by departed spirits but by a deranged and manipulative middle-aged woman bent on revenge for her supposedly neglected childhood, for being raised by her cousin's family as a so-called charity case).

Showing a combination of sadness, eeriness and at times downright nastiness (but often also mitigated with and by both humour and gentleness, sweetness), in Among the Shadows: Tales from the Darker Side, L.M. Montgomery presents and features the kinds of negative themes and issues that one would probably not generally look for all that much in her fiction as a whole (although if one digs a bit deeper into the latter, one does have to come to the conclusion that this so-called darker side is in fact often present even in Montgomery's most optimistic seeming novels as well, for let us be honest, there is for example in the Emily of New Moon series a constant undercurrent of potential sadness, tragedy and Emily's occasional second sight does also often leave the reader with the proverbial shivers, as it also does for her for that matter). And thus, while in this collection, while in Among the Shadows: Tales From the Darker Side, there is indeed an actual and palpable concentration by L.M. Montgomery on darker thematics present throughout, it is not as though this is in any way a rarity in her fiction, but simply that in Among the Shadows: Tales From the Darker Side, there is more of an overt and deliberate emphasis on the darker elements of life and culture that in much of L.M. Montgomery's fiction is actually always there and present to be seen and experienced but often more below and between the lines and not directly at the surface.

And to point out examples of negative cultural thematics, two of the featured tales of Among the Shadows: Tales From the Darker Side specifically deal with rampant drunkenness, with the gross overconsumption of alcohol. But although in The Deacon's Pain Killer, there is also very much depicted and described humour, as the oh so prim and proper anti any alcohol consumption, period, deacon is made wildly intoxicated by naively and trustingly imbibing a patent medicine left by a to him likeable and respectable artist and is then helped out of his predicament of having been roaringly drunk in public by his daughter's love interest (whom the deacon despises and has refused to let his daughter marry simply because of some minor and youthful transgressions Anthony Boyd had with alcohol, and the hypocrisy and dual-standard of Montgomery's expressive and entertaining rendition of the deacon in his own drunkenness grossly misbehaving in church shines amazingly and laugh-out-lound hilariously), in The Martyrdom of Estella it is a drink-addicted woman who causes most Estella's Bowes' grief, although personally, I absolutely do not at all like this story (and it is probably my least favourite in Among the Shadows: Tales From the Darker Side and the only one that I have always rather despised and hated and generally do not even bother to reread, as Montgomery seems to place ALL of the blame for Estella's problems with her fiancé on Vivienne LeMar and none really on Spencer Morgan, who is and disgustingly in my humble opinion portrayed as a total victim as well, even though it takes two to tango and he sure does pursue Vivienne LeMar and actively casts his affections for Estella aside for the latter's more dashing and flaunting ways).

Alongside of the traditional and sadly painful tales of men who destroy their lovers' lives (and even a rather Gothic and more than a bit overwrought depiction of a wife killing her husband in a fit of rage in The Red Room) we as readers also meet a number of criminals and/or potential criminals (murderers, thieves, embezzlers), and while these individuals are indeed depicted as negatively, there are also generally many positives portrayed by the author, as for example the murderer presented in The Man on the Train is definitely drawn and conceptualised by L.M. Montgomery not simply as a hardened and vile criminal and degenerate, but also as a true gentleman, who helps Grandma Sheldon when she misplaces her train ticket and even guides her to her final destination when no one meets her at the train station, even though he is on the run from the law, even though he is a fugitive from justice (and in both The Redemption of John Churchill and Miss Callista's Peppermint Bottle, the ending is also very much optimistic, with ex-con John Churchill having decided to not abandon his young son and go to the West upon his releases from prison after he has overheard young Joey defending him and Miss Callista giving Chester a second chance, as she realises that it was primarily everyone in town not trusting him due to his family background that has caused Chester to out of financial necessity turn to thievery). But then conversely and sadly, with Detected by the Camera, I do have a bit of an issue with the holier than thou and superior attitude of the narrator and how her suspicions of Ned Brooke end up being so conveniently and one-sidedly justified (as the text really and frustratingly reads as though Amy Clarke is totally tooting her own horn and boasting and that the entire Brooke family is simply depicted as inherently negative and up to no good by nature, not perhaps all that unrealistic, but Amy's narrational superiority is indeed rather majorly aggravating and annoying).

Now with regard to the tales of a more supernatural bent, The Girl at the Gate I have always absolutely loved, and I have indeed and never been either frightened or creeped out by it, by the spirit of Mr. Lawrence's long deceased sweetheart coming to him on his deathbed to ease his passing as he had done for her when she lay dying (or by Davenport's Story which reads like a typical deceased family member warning of potential mayhem type of tale). However, and even though I have always massively liked both The Closed Door and The House Party at Smoky Island, I do find these two stories rather psychologically upsetting and uncanny (and so strange that I do not as a rule read them before going to bed lest I will have dreams about them). Highly recommended is Among the Shadows: Tales From the Darker Side, especially for those readers who want to experience L.M. Montgomery as not only an author of light, love and sweetness (but with the caveat to consider not reading Rea Wilmshurst's excellent introduction until AFTER having perused the nineteen tales, so as to avoid possible spoilers). And yes, I still have shelved and will continue to shelve Among the Shadows: Tales From the Darker Side as a "favourite" even if I have rated it with "only" three and a half (rounded up to a somewhat inflated and generous four) stars.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

4-1/2 Stars

The perfect spooky-but-not-scary story collection for October reading!

[Gayle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anne of Green Gables and the six books of that series are the cornerstone of the reputation of L M Montgomery, but she has written many other books as well, sought out and enjoyed by her many fans. I ran across Among the Shadows and was diverted by the premise that ties together this collection of short stories. These are tales from the dark side, the jacket promised, showing a grimmer edge than Montgomery's fans are likely to expect.

Truth to tell, I am not one of her die-hard fans. I liked Anne of Green Gables, but that's as far as I got, to the shocked indignation of my daughters, who have read and reread her works. So I cannot comment on how Among the Shadows compares to her better-known works. But I enjoyed it. I dislike horror intensely, but, as one Amazon reviewer put it, these are "ghost stories for people who don't like ghost stories." Within these stories are ghosts, pseudo-ghosts, tragic characters, bad people, redeemed sinners, and the strong flavor of the Canadian Atlantic coast that I find very satisfying. I would definitely read this again.

[Rikke · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title of this collection alone was enough to arouse my curiosity. After all, Montgomery is always categorized as a writer of 'sentimental and romantic' tales. Her work is always downplayed as children's tales though they very much depict the challenges and sorrows of young women in the 20th century.

This short story collection differs from that homely image of Montgomery that's so widely promoted. And for that, I'd like to award it five stars alone.

The stories are not all equally strong, but they offer a glimpse of Montgomery's diverse authorship; the dark aspect isn't always ghosts or supernatural elements, but very real worries such as alcohol abuse, adultery, broken hearts and sick aunts. Aspects that were always present in her books, but easily overlooked.

[Salma · Rating 5 out of 5]

LM Montgomery was probably one of the most prolific writers in history, and this is a collection of her ghost stories. I recently went back and read these for the first time, with a kind of dreaded anticipation, similar to meeting your first crush twenty years later.
There are ghost stories here, but most of the topics focus on things that are more likely to be everyday news now- i.e. alcoholism, embezzlement, babies born out of wedlock, etc.- stuff that really was in 'the Shadows' a century ago. But even her darker stories are infused with a sweetness that escapes saccharine and leaves the reader with a good feeling she might not get even through reading modern stories that purport to be infused with romance. And some of the stories, e.g. "Some Fools and a Saint" have a cleverness that has yet to be matched by more modern short story writers.

[LeahBethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Among the Shadows: Tales from the Darker Side is a pleasant collection of short stories by the author of Anne of Green Gables. The tales include ghosts, premonitions, jealousy, and revenge; all in the prose that L.M. Montgomery does so well. None of the stories were scary (which is just fine by me!) but a few were a little eerie. Thank you Gundula for bringing this book to my attention!!

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

The third of eight volumes of L.M. Montgomery's short-stories collected and edited by Rea Wilmshurst, and published from 1988 to 1995 - the first two were Akin to Anne: Tales of Other Orphans and Along the Shore: Tales by the Sea - Among the Shadows presents nineteen selections, each of which address some ghostly, or socially "disturbing" theme. Here are tales of hauntings, seeming hauntings, drunken anti-heroes capable of one good deed, thieves being caught and punished (or not, as the case may be), embezzlers finding redemption, social outcasts finding salvation, and murderers confessing (or fleeing). In short: this is not the L.M. Montgomery who is all sweetness and light - of course, none of Montgomery's work is all sweetness and light, but that's another story - but the one capable of writing about the darker impulses of the human heart, and the eerie and unhappy world of the spirit. Selections include:

The Closed Door, a truly eerie tale, which follows a group of children as they walk through a "door" into a ghostly house from the past, solving an old mystery concerning a lost pearl, and a reputedly faithless wife in the process, and getting their first glimpse of true evil - something that none of them will ever forget...

Davenport's Story, in which a ghostly visitation prevents a tragedy, when the eponymous Davenport's wife, daughter and brother-in-law are due to sail to Europe...

The Deacon's Painkiller, a humorous selection in which an unbending deacon, having forbidden his daughter to marry her respectable physician suitor, because he once, in his youth, had a drunken episode, gets a taste of his own medicine...

Detected by the Camera, in which a thief is caught red-handed on film, stealing a pocketbook containing five hundred dollars...

From out the Silence, which follows the story of a middle-aged woman who bitterly regrets the quarrel she once had with her closest friend - a quarrel that can never now be resolved, as the friend died without sending any word - who, through her compassionate action in taking in distant relations for whom she has little fondness, receives a most unexpected message of forgiveness...

The Girl at the Gate, in which a dying man's young bride - long since dead herself - returns to fulfill a promise to her husband, that she would be present as his own deathbed...

The House Party at Smoky Island, another intensely eerie selection, in which the tense stand-off between a husband and his wife, who has begun to suspect that he might have been responsible for his previous wife's death, is broken by the ghostly appearance of the real murderer, come from beyond the grave to confess...

The Man on the Train, in which a kindly old grandmother, frightened at the prospect of her first trip on the rails, is looked after by a thoughtful young stranger who turns out to be a murderer on the run from the law...

The Martyrdom of Estella, in which a plain farm girl finds her betrothed stolen out from underneath her by a glamorous actress boarding with her family, until a drunken episode opens his eyes...

Min, the tale of a minister whose sojourn in a rural community has not been a complete success, who finds himself attracted to the village pariah...

Miriam's Lover, in which a young girl experiences a deep and spiritual connection to her fiancee, and can - though they live hundreds of miles apart - receive "messages" from him...

Miss Calista's Peppermint Bottle, in which an intrepid old maid discovers who it was who attempted to rob her, and handles the situation in her own inimitable style...

The Old Chest at Wyther Grange, a tale within a tale, in which a young girl learns the tragic story behind an old chest stored in her grandmother's house...

The Red Room, the gothic story of an unhappy marriage, a faithless wife, and a murder - all as witnessed by a young girl...

A Redeeming Sacrifice, a rather sentimental selection, in which a worthless young layabout, realizing that he will never make anything of himself, decides to do the one decent thing of his life, and release his beloved - a worthy young woman - from their agreement...

The Redemption of John Churchill, in which a convict, released at long last from prison, plans on "going to the devil," after a brief visit with his son...

Some Fools and a Saint, the longest story in the collection, in which a series of very destructive "hauntings" is finally solved, revealing an earthly cause that is no less disturbing, for not being supernatural...

The Tryst of the White Lady, in which a young man is disappointed to discover that he has not fallen in love with a ghost after all, but a real live woman...

And finally, White Magic, in which a love triangle is happily resolved, with or without the use of a love potion, depending upon one's interpretation...

I enjoyed most, if not all, of these stories, even the ones which veered into overtly sentimentality (hardly a surprise, in L.M. Montgomery), but my particular favorites would have to be: The Closed Door, because I identify so strongly with Montgomery's use of doors, and the going through of doors, as a means of discussing our reaction to the unknown; Miss Calista's Peppermint Bottle, because I'm a good old-fashioned bleeding-heart liberal, when you come right down to it, and liked the heroine's response to the man who attempted to rob her; and Some Fools and a Saint, because it was deliciously creepy, and didn't sugar-coat anything, at the end. All Montgomery fans should give Among the Shadows a try, and experience the "darker" side of one of their favorite authors!

[Bon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, this was an interesting mixed bag! I had it in my head these were largely ghost stories, but no, apparently Montgomery frowned upon them mostly. These stories ranged from domestic thrillers to teenaged angst to strange moral soapboxing; some certainly didn't age well. But largely an enjoyable assortment of stories.

[CJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

LM Montgomery is my constant. I've read this book at least every two years for over a decade now - it's like falling into a blissful state of nostalgia.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was just the right thing to read the week before Halloween, for me. A few slightly spooky stories, some eerie ones, and the rest just with a tinge of darkness around the edges. I do NOT enjoy horror stories, in print or on the screen, but I trusted Montgomery not to scare me, just give me a little thrill here and there. And she definitely delivered!

The stories I enjoyed most were:

+ "Detected by the Camera" -- an amateur photographer inadvertently solves a crime.

+ "From Out the Silence" -- a woman misses her best friend, who died suddenly after they had a silly quarrel, but learns her friend forgave her after all.

+ "The House Party on Smoky Island" -- a supernatural visitor saves a marriage.

+ "Miss Calista's Peppermint Bottle" -- forgiveness and peppermint extract solve a crime and save a soul.

+ "A Redeeming Sacrifice" -- eavesdropping convinces a bad boy to leave a good girl alone.

+ "The Redemption of John Churchill" -- eavesdropping convinces a pardoned felon that his life can have meaning again. Absolutely my favorite story here.

[Elinor Loredan · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/2024 reread:
I enjoyed this one so much more than the first couple times. Stories I previously though lackluster ("The Closed Door," "Davenport's Story," "The House Party at Smoky Island," for instance) I now find fascinating and delightfully eerie. "The Girl at the Gate" is both sweet and creepy. I did not mind "The Tryst of the White Lady" as much this time, either, and the only issue I find with "White Magic" is that at the end some of the lines are exactly the same as in Emily's Quest and The Blue Castle. This verbatim repetition rather cheapens the story (although I do not know if it came before the novels) and makes it seem less real. I always tear up over "The Redemption of John Churchill," even though Joey is unlikely to make such a speech at his age. Although I still do not altogether like "The Red Room," I am intrigued by the notion that a certain room can have a bad influence on people. The notion that Alicia is violent and untrustworthy because she is "foreign," however, is not savory. "Some Fools and a Saint" remains the crowning glory of the collection. Despite having read it multiple times I still feel an urgency to read it quickly. I think Alice gets off too easily (especially having killed animals), but I do appreciate how she is softened by a man's sincere love for her, something she has never experienced.

Altogether I actually enjoyed this a bit more than At the Altar, which I reread before this one. I feel bad saying this, but LMM's writing generally feels more real when she portrays anguish and suffering than when she portrays romance.

***
Though this collection didn't blow me away, I still enjoyed it and will revisit it. I thought that 'Some Fools and a Saint' was done very well. The subtle clues as to who the 'spook' was kept my suspicion fluctuating between Alice, Lucia, and Mr. Sheldon. The main thing I enjoyed were the exploits of the 'ghost' and wondering what it would do next.

SPOILERS coming up

'The Martyrdom of Estella' does bother me a bit, since I have my doubts that if Spencer had not seen Ms. Lemar drunk, he wouldn't have gone back to Estella. On Estella's part, I don't know if I'd take him back so easily. I would be more forgiving if he said, "I was a fickle idiot," rather than, "I'm sorry, I was bewitched." It was really reminiscent of Gay and Roger Penhallows' story in A Tangled Web, but with a less appealing ending. But perhaps that's the main point of the story-that Estella takes Spencer back with loving forgiveness and doesn't scorn him for what he did.

'The Tryst of the White Lady' bothered me a little as well, with the way that Roger was so adverse to non-beauty. I can understand that, but not the way he finds most people ugly and avoid them. I actually find that most people are attractive in some way and to some degree. At the end I felt that he didn't deserve the lovely, deaf girl he meets, and agree wholeheartedly with Aunt Catherine that if she hadn't been deaf and vulnerable she never would look at Roger. The story would have been far more satisfying if Roger had fallen in love with a girl because of her character and personality rather than because she satisfies his insatiable hunger for constant beauty. And really, if there wasn't some ugliness in the world the beauty wouldn't please us so much-there's got to be contrast.
But anyway, I just found the story distasteful and felt like smacking Roger on the head.

Like in other reviews I have read, 'Detected by the Camera', featuring a very smug narrator and no mystery or suspense, gives me no desire to read it again. I also didn't like 'The Red Room', and I'm not sure what LMM was trying to 'say' with it, but I'll likely read it next time I reread the collection. 'Davenport's Story' was a little lackluster, but basically likeable.

The rest of the stories are keepers for me. I'm much more impressed with 'Miss Calista's Peppermint Bottle' this time around-sometimes it takes a second reading for my appreciation of books and stories to set in.

'A Redeeming Sacrifice' really touched me. Imagine having no one know about a sacrifice you made for someone you love enough for that selflessness, least of all the loved one! Although I do wonder whether Paul gave up his uncouth lifestyle after making the sacrifice. Maybe that's partly why he made it-he knew that he wouldn't give it up and so would make Joan unhappy.

This review is way too long already!
It was fun and interesting to read this book along with the discussion about it at the 'Kindred spirits' group. it opened my mind to many different aspects and interpretations of the stories and helped me better understand my own reactions to them.

[Amalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a lifelong fan of L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables but for past three or four years I completely lost touch with her work, more 'serious' writing was preoccupying my mind. But when I began to read Among the Shadows: Tales from the Darker Side, it was like a breath of fresh air. This is like a relief from a long tiring day, like practicing Tai Chi.

This collection of stories is simply and had the Montgomery comfort that I feel in love with. Although at first I thought it was a collection of horror tales turns out it's far more pleasing and soothing to the brain.

This collection also reminded me what a great writer this lady is. The stories contain a variety of characters, and many of them are indeed living among the shadows/ghosts in the past till the redemptions in life or at the moment of death, or the characters that are rejected by the society for a wrongdoing in the past and forever shunned from the society so they must continue to live among the shadows etc. So at the end I am surprised by the insight given to the characters by Montgomery.

Even if you would not like psychoanalysis and all that, this can be fully enjoyed by anyone who, at least at one point in their lives, loved Anne Shirley. This is also suitable for any age too.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book for Christmas, and I didn’t know what to expect, because I knew that Montgomery is a great writer, and I´ve never heard of this book.
I enjoyed the book very much! I loved the spooky, weird stories; they were captivating and some of them funny. If you want some scary stories and you are fed up with zombies and vampires, why not try this book?
Throughout the stories I kept wondering if any of these things which were mentioned in the book could be actually real! There are nineteen short stories in the book, which is good, because you start a new story again and again. Thanks for reading this. Jools.

[Manon Auger · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Au-delà des ténèbres' est un recueil qui regroupe les nouvelles plus 'adultes' de Lucy Maud Montgomery, connue essentiellement pour ses oeuvres jeunesses. Elles ont été rédigées pour des journaux à divers moments de sa carrière. Bien qu'inégales, ces nouvelles ont été un petit bonheur de lecture pour moi qui aime le style surannée et les vieilles histoires de fantômes. Lecture de vacances :-)

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

To my knowledge, I've now read every piece of fiction that L.M. Montgomery every wrote. This book was the last one for me, and I loved it. Classic Montgomery short stories.

[Kerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just finished reading Among the Shadows, yet another collection of Lucy Maud Montgomery short stories. As with most of the other anthologies, the stories in Among the Shadows were grouped together because they shared a common theme. Each of the stories feature some sort of otherworldly, ghostly element and/or a criminal element. There is no doubt about it. This collection contained some of Montgomery’s most melodramatic work. Murderers, criminals and things that go bump in the night abound in every story. Some of the stories (such as the Red Room in which an the husband of an unfaithful wife is killed while trying to prevent her from leaving with her lover) were a little too sensational and over-dramatic for my tastes but I enjoyed many of the others, including:

The Deacon’s Painkiller
A rigid deacon, with fanatic views on drinking and temperance, refuses to allow his daughter to marry the man she loves because, even though he is an upstanding citizen now, he once got drunk. But things change when the deacon suffers the aftereffects of drinking too much of a “painkilling tonic” that was left behind by a former boarder.

Detected By the Camera
An amateur photographer accidently catches a thief in the act.

The House Party at Smoky Island<./b>
A couple’s marriage is being torn apart by the wife’s suspicion that her husband may have poisoned his first wife until a ghostly visitor appears and confesses to the deed.

The Man on the Train
A elderly woman is out of her element when forced to travel alone. A man takes her under his wing and gets her to her destination safely. Later on, she discovers that he was a murderer on the run from the police but still believes that there is something good in him from the way he treated her, especially when the time he took in helping her led to his being caught.

A Redeeming Sacrifice
A ne’er do well scoundrel is all set to marry a young, innocent girl. But when he overhears a conversation about how marriage to him would ruin the girl’s life, he makes the unselfish decision to remove himself from her life and free her for something better, even though he does love her.

Some Fools and A Saint
This was the best story in the book, at least in my opinion. A young minister boards with a local family whose home is being haunted by a destructive presence. Although I guessed the ending before I got to it, I really enjoyed the mystery aspect of the story and viewed it as sort of the Lucy Maud Montgomery version of an episode of Scooby Doo.

[LobsterQuadrille · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think some people harbor a misconception that L.M. Montgomery just wrote idyllic children's books and stories with sprightly heroines and happy endings. Among the Shadows is a unusual collection of her stories that really shatters that myth. They are about crime, death, guilt, vengeance, and even supernatural occurrences. They vary in tone, with some being almost humorous, others sinister, and a few which stick more to the warmer tone of Montgomery's better-known works. I enjoyed rereading this unusual anthology. I thought a few of the stories were a bit melodramatic and/or predictable(mainly "The Tryst of the White Lady" and "Min"), but most were very good. These were my personal favorites:

- "The Closed Door": quite eerie and dark
-"The Deacon's Painkiller": probably the funniest story
-"From Out the Silence": bittersweet and moving; possibly my favorite one
-"The House Party at Smoky Island": just a good spooky story!
-"The Man on the Train": a surprisingly heartwarming story
-"Miss Calista's Peppermint Bottle": reminiscent of "Man on the Train"
-"A Redeeming Sacrifice": a rather sad but sweet ending to this one
-"Some Fools and a Saint": a mystery that kept me guessing and had a great twist ending

[Katie Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I forgot how much I adore these stories!

This re-read, my favorite has to be "White Magic"--what a world it would be with more men like Randall, who talk about "winds and delicate dawns, mysterious woods in moonlight and starry midnights, silver-white sails going out of the harbour in the magic of the morning, and the grey of gulf storms." L.M. Montgomery's writing is perfect!

[Karli · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book wasn't scary, just eery, mysterious, sometimes sad, and always beautiful! L.M. Montgomery is one of my all-time favorite authors. She knew how to combine humor, tragedy, mystery, and whimsy into one books. It feels childish and incredibly mature at the same time. Her characters are very real. These short stories are fantastic, I have to re-read them every so often.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember these stories being much more spooky and other-worldly when I first read them. Some gems here but some duds as well.

[Naomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little creepy and so much fun. A great fall read.

[Elizabeth Meadows · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not all of these are supernatural or even creepy. There are just what the subtitle says, "Tales from the Darker Side." They were enjoyable stories.

[Dianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I sat on this book for years, worrying it would be too scary for me (I have a low tolerance for such things). I needn't have worried. L.M. Montgomery is still herself. Most of the stories aren't even about ghosts—we have criminals, stolen lovers, and old ladies taking the train for the first time. None are truly scary.

As a collection of Montgomery's stories, this is one of the better ones. Most of the other collections (Akin to Anne, Along the Shore), are too closely related for me and the stories feel a bit same by the end. This one has decent variety, and some of them are very good.

I liked the page at the end that gave the original publication date and magazine for each story, and I wished that that information had been included at the beginning of each story.

[Liz Hokanson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the longer stories better than the shorter ones. Unfortunately, those don't come until the end of the book.

[Serenity · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a darker set of short stories than LMM's norms, with death and people being kept apart. Some didn't have happy endings, and others were just a pain to get through. All in all, not a short story collection I want to read again.

[Isabella Minor · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite spooky short story collection:) I reread it every year in October!!

[Alyssa DeLeon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mixture of sad, eerie, and humorous stories. L.M. Montgomery simply never misses.

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clever short stories, many a bit spooky, perfect for the season.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

For me this was one of my more favorite L.M. Montgomery books. While I fell in love with the Anne of Green Gables series as an adolescent, I've since become an even bigger fan of her less puritanical later works, especially her short stories, which is exactly what Among the Shadows: Tales From the Darker Side (edited by Rea Wilmhurst and published in 1990), contains.

If you've read any of Montgomery's other books, you shouldn't be surprised that her fascination with the paranormal led her to write enough stories to fill a volume. In the collection are several traditional ghost stories (such as "Davenport's Story" and "The House Party at Smoky Island"), but there are even more tales of strange coincidences or other "magic" ("A Redeeming Sacrifice," "Detected By Camera," "The Deacon's Painkiller," and "White Magic," among others).

There isn't really much more to describe the book as it exactly follows Montgomery's charming style in her other books. While I can gush on and on about the fine points of her novels, when it comes to short story collections, especially one spanning such a wide range of her career, there are just so many beautifully idiosyncratic portraits painted that you can really only gloss the broadest generalities of her style such as the rural coastal Prince Edward Island (Canada) setting from the late 19th or early 20th century and her charmingly folksy yet educated voice.

Essentially, if you're already a fan of Montgomery, you wont be dissappointed by Among the Shadows. If you haven't read any of her books, but think you might like her work, this would be one of the better books to start with. In general I think her later works, the short stories especially, are less of a shock to current readers than her earlier works originally written for Sunday School periodicals (this is how Anne of Green Gables developed). Some of my other favorite later works of Montgomery are A Tangled Web (1931), The Road to Yesterday (published posthumously in 1974), and The Blue Castle. Also, let's see if I can start a fight among the Anne fans out there by saying that the Emily Series - Emily of New Moon (1923), Emily Climbs (1925), & Emily's Quest (1927) - is better.