Mrs Zant and the Ghost by Wilkie Collins

So: not my usual reading material.  I downloaded this for free on Audible and listened to it the other day.  It’s a short story by Wilkie Collins and it tells the story of Mr Rayburn, a widower with a young child who encounters a strange young woman (a widow) while he’s out walking in Kensington Gardens with his daughter.  Mrs Zant, the widow, is acting really strangely, and Mr Rayburn decides to investigate.  It turns out that Mrs Zant has been visited by the ghost of her late husband who is trying to warn her of some coming danger.
 
I thought this was an okay read (listen?) and the story was entertaining enough, but for a ghost story it wasn’t very thrilling or scary.  It was more of an investigation and had the feel of a crime mystery.
 
One thing that was really interesting was the changes in the portrayal of female characters between Victorian times and now.  Poor old Mrs Zant is basically helpless.  As a widow, she’s not allowed to control her own finances.  She’s totally dependent on her brother-in-law to do stuff like rent a house for her and ultimately it’s up to the widower guy to work out that her brother-in-law is trying to take advantage of her and to rescue her.  Like, I don’t think I’ve ever read about a more helpless, constantly-needing-to-be-saved female (other than Bella in Twilight).
 
Another weird thing was that considering the story is supposed to be about Mrs Zant, we really don’t find out much about her.  She’s obviously meant to be a sympathetic character, but her positive qualities are basically limited to an ability to bond with Mr Rayburn’s daughter (i.e. motherly instincts = good person).
 
Despite the fact that this story isn’t great from a feminist standpoint, it was quite a sweet tale.  Not scary, considering it’s touted as a ghost story, but fairly intriguing.
 
The narration was very good.  Gillian Anderson really brought it to life and although I don’t often gel with audio books, I had no problem following this one.
 
3.5 stars