The Readers Review: Literature from 1714 to 1910 discussion

Continuing on the short story theme into December, I am planning a read of Christmas Ghost Stories for the three weeks leading up to Christmas.

Dec. 4-10: The Old Nurse's Story by Mrs. Gaskell and Afterward by Edith Wharton
Dec. 11-17: Earthbound by Mrs Oliphant and My First Happy Christmas by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
Dec. 18-24 A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

I have checked and the 4 stories in the first 2 weeks are all easily found in pdf versions online, and A Christmas Carol should be widely available in libraries and free ebooks if it isn't already on your bookshelf.

I will give each story its own discussion thread and the threads will of course stay up even after the dates listed so if you don't get time to curl up with a good Ghost Story until after the 25th, you can still join the discussion.

I look forward to discussing these stories with everyone in December and into the New Year!

When I joined the group, I was hungry to find others who truly enjoyed reading and discussing 19th century literature. Well, I have definitely hit the jackpot! This sounds like a great, fun read for the season. Thanks for setting this up, Frances.

I like the variety, Frances.

Sounds great!

What's interesting about the Victorian ghost story tradition is the flexibility it gives the reader. I just finished reading The Old Nurse's Story as one of my Halloween reads.

Frances, it's like you had been checking my reading stats. I just read Braddon's The Doctor's Wife and Oliphant's The Rector in September and Oliphant's The Doctor's Family in October so I'm in sync with their style these days and will likely join the discussion for their stories.

I too love the choices, Frances. I may even re-read the Christmas Carol.

Brian E wrote: "What's interesting about the Victorian ghost story tradition is the flexibility it gives the reader. I just finished reading The Old Nurse's Story as one of my Halloween reads.

Fra..."

To be honest, I have a lovely Folio Society edition of Christmas Ghost stories and decided to motivate myself to read some of them this year by leading a group read. I also read the Braddon recently, and really enjoyed Mrs Oliphant when the group read Miss Marjoribanks, and same with Mrs Gaskell and earlier reads here, so they were obvious choices to select for me. I haven't read any Dickens since this group did the big read (in fact that is what brought me to the group) so I'm looking forward to rereading him as well.

Frances wrote: "Dec. 4-10: The Old Nurse's Story by Mrs. Gaskell and Afterward by Edith Wharton..."

I've been viewing the first week's read as if Frances wrote "The Old Nurse's Story by Mrs. Gaskell WITH Afterword by Edith Wharton."
Then I re-read the Message announcing these reads that talked about the 4 short stories in the first few weeks and I understood that Wharton did not write the Afterword to Gaskell's story but wrote Afterward, the name of a story itself. I made this mistake even though I had already read the story in 2020 as part of the The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton collection. Doh!

Oh wow, completely understandable interpretation-thanks for pointing that out. Wouldn't that be great if Edith Wharton had taken to writing continuations of other authors stories!

Thanks to Brian for posting these links in another thread for those having trouble finding the stories:

For EARTHBOUND by Mrs. Oliphant - I printed a copy of the 28 page story from an On-Line edition of "Fraser's Magazine, New Series, Vol. XXL, From January to June 1880." https://archive.org/details/Earthboun...
(I clicked on the PDF download link on the bottom right of the page and when it opened, I clicked on Print and increased the size of the text to 133% on my Print function)

For MY FIRST HAPPY CHRISTMAS by Mary Elizabeth Braddon - I printed a copy of the 44 page story from an On-Line edition of "Ralph the Bailiff and Other Tales." https://books.google.com/books/about/... - Just click on the link for the 6th story listed which starts on page 200.

Frances wrote: "Thanks to Brian for posting these links in another thread for those having trouble finding the stories:

For EARTHBOUND by Mrs. Oliphant - I printed a copy of the 28 page story from an On-Line edit..."

Both can be found on Amazon. Kindle version. Reasonably priced

Did you know that William Faulkner wrote ghost stories! It’s on my wishlist to procure a copy of an anthology of his spooky stories! Compiled by his daughter !

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-...

Deborah wrote: ".Both can be found on Amazon. Kindle version. Reasonably priced."

Congratulations on your search abilities, Deborah. I spent a good amount of time looking on Amazon and couldn't locate copies, Kindle or paper, of either story. (I did find a copy of Ralph the Heir and Other Stories but could not find a list of stories to make sure the Christmas one was included).

I wouldn't mind also buying a real cheap Kindle version but I'm so inept that I've been looking since getting your post and I still can't find them on Amazon.
Any tips to find them? If not, can you come over and use my computer to find them. Right now, I'm so frustrated at my inability to find what others have found that I'd pay the air fare to fly you out. I just want to find them even if I decide not to buy.

Some of you might be interested in this short article about the tradition of the Victorian Ghost Story.

https://www.victorianweb.org/genre/gh...

Most of the authors we are reading are mentioned but references are made to other stories they have written rather than the ones to be read here.

I will come help, if you come help me finish my decorating chores. Earthbound is found in the collected stories of Margaret Oliphant. The other in The Complete Works of Mary Elizabeth Braddon. It did take me a bit to find them.

Deborah wrote: "I will come help, if you come help me finish my decorating chores. Earthbound is found in the collected stories of Margaret Oliphant. The other in The Complete Works of Mary Elizabeth Braddon. It d..."

Thanks, Deborah!
1) The Braddon was easy to find in this book where it is included as one of the stories included from Ralph the Heir. Only $.99, But do I want 12,000 pages of Braddon on my Kindle when I won't read 11. 950 pages of it?
https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Works...
2) I didn't find the Oliphant as the two copies of the Collected stories of Margaret Oliphant I could find only had 2 stories: The Library Window and the Secret Chamber. I'm satisfied there is an edition with Earthbound in it though, but won't look anymore; and
3) You must be nuts!! Nobody, I mean nobody. ever let's me decorate anything. If I took you up on the deal you'd hate me and kick me out of Readers Review. I can't risk it, so no deal.

Due to the above 3 factors, I will stay with my report-like printed versions.

Brian E wrote: "Deborah wrote: "I will come help, if you come help me finish my decorating chores. Earthbound is found in the collected stories of Margaret Oliphant. The other in The Complete Works of Mary Elizabe..."

Lol. Nah. We’d give up, grab an adult beverage, and talk books

FYI you know you can remove the download from your kindle and the book still stays in your Amazon account to be read later in order to save space

Deborah wrote: "FYI you know you can remove the download from your kindle and the book still stays in your Amazon account to be read later in order to save space."

Actually, I didn't know that but it makes sense that it would work that way. Thanks for the info as I will likely use it sometime. You have a much better handle on the Kindle - Amazon thing.

Brian E wrote: "Deborah wrote: "FYI you know you can remove the download from your kindle and the book still stays in your Amazon account to be read later in order to save space."

Actually, I didn't know that but..."

I actually never wanted a kindle. A friend got me one years ago. My husband had one first, yet I’m always asked to clean his up. I do use my kindle every night as it makes reading in bed easy which means I’m always reading at least two books. So I always mark my kindle book read and remove the download. I have the least amount of memory in kindle because I wanted to keep it light weight. I’ve yet to run out

Trev wrote: "Some of you might be interested in this short article about the tradition of the Victorian Ghost Story.

https://www.victorianweb.org/genre/gh...

Most of the authors..."

Thanks Trev-I've been a bit surprised by how tenuous the connection to Christmas is in many of the stories. Ghost stories have never been part of my Christmas (Canadian, Anglican/Presbyterian) traditions-they are only associated with Hallowe'en (and campfires-definitely a summer thing) for me.

Just wanted to say I’ve really been enjoying the stories. Glad we are doing a Victorian tradition