Avenging Angels: Ghost Stories by Victorian Women Writers

by Melissa Edmundson (Editor)

Ghost stories have always provided a popular source of entertainment, thrilling readers with tales of remote gothic castles and dark dungeons. In the nineteenth century, authors made the genre even scarier by bringing the uncanny within the sanctity of the middle-class home. Women writers especially saw the ghost story as an empowering form, using it to make subversive arguments about gender, class, sexuality, race, and money. In this electrifying collection, Melissa Edmundson showcases ten authors who led lives that challenged Victorian notions of how women should behave and brought those transgressive ideas into their fiction.

THE FOUR-FIFTEEN EXPRESS Amelia B. Edwards
SINCE I DIED Elizabeth Stuart Phelps
THE SHADOW IN THE CORNER Mary Elizabeth Braddon
THE GHOST AT THE RATH Rosa Mulholland
FROM THE DEAD Edith Nesbit
IN THE SÉANCE ROOM Lettice Galbraith
THE HOUSE WHICH WAS RENT FREE G. M. Robins
THE LOST GHOST Mary E. Wilkins
THE STRIDING PLACE Gertrude Atherton
THE PRAYER Violet Hunt

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fiction, Classics, Anthologies, Ghosts, Ghost Stories

175 pages, Paperback

First published December 23, 2018

About the author

Melissa Edmundson is a literary historian who specializes in 19th and 20th-century British women writers, ghost stories, the supernatural, the Gothic, and Anglo-Indian popular fiction. She has a PhD in Victorian literature.

Reviews

[Alwynne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of 10 ghost stories from the nineteenth century, many retain a hint of classic gothic fiction but instead of playing out in grand castles they’re firmly rooted in the familiar and the domestic. The chosen narratives often deal with subjects associated with conventional women’s fiction from love affairs to motherhood but placing these within the realms of the supernatural also freed up their authors to discuss topics otherwise considered a bit too racy or “indelicate” for women: from child abuse to sexual exploitation. Haunted houses and ghastly apparitions abound, as do wintry scenes, flickering candles and shadowy streets. Amelia B. Edwards’s “The Four-Fifteen Express” a well-paced story of an eerie encounter on a rural train, and Lettice Galbraith’s “The Séance Room” a gripping account of ruthless ambition and callous murder, both straddle genres centred on crime and detection as much as the spirit world. There’s a distinctly queer sensibility pervading Gertrude Atherton’s “The Striding Place” while Mary E. Wilkins’s “The Lost Ghost” focuses on gossip between bored wives that leads to unexpected revelations about terrible events from the past. G. M. Roberts’s “The House which was rent free” is a lucid, compelling, and atmospheric treatment of the aftermath of the harsh treatment of a small child. Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s carefully-constructed “The Shadow in the Corner” is a melancholy variation on the standard haunted house which also exposes the vulnerability of young women working as servants; while Violet Hunt’s “The Prayer” an unsettling examination of a marriage in which the husband mysteriously returns from the dead draws on circulating ideas about the afterlife, identity, and the soul. Not the perfect selection, Edith Nesbit’s entry is irritatingly melodramatic and a couple of others too slight, but a more than reasonable choice of reading for chill, dark nights. This comes with a comprehensive introduction by its editor Melissa Edmundson, academic and fan of vintage women's horror.

[Charlotte Kersten]

So What’s It About?

Ghost stories! By Victorian women!

What I Thought

The Four Fifteen Express by Amelia Edwards - my note for this one just says “train.” I don’t want to reveal the twist but it’s quite fun.

Since I Died by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps - this is a really beautifully and uniquely written story from the perspective of a ghost lingering in the moments after death and talking to the person grieving for them.

The Shadow in the Corner by Mary Elizabeth Braddon - I read this in a previous collection, and here’s what I said there: this one tells the story of a ruthlessly scientific man whose refusal to believe in the supernatural comes that the expense of his servant's life. There is nothing like a Victorian ghost story, is there? This one has the perfect spooky atmosphere of dread.

The Ghost at the Rath by Rosa Mulholland - an Irish story about an evil woman and a weird house. My favorite part is how strange it is that the protagonist’s friend is so happy at the house while he is tormented. The ending features a coincidence that is just too convenient, though.

From the Dead by Edith Nesbit - this one didn’t do too much for me, but the last line about the child never smiling or talking was very creepy.

In The Séance Room - by Lettice Galbraith - a man disposes of a woman he seduced and then his crime comes back to him at a séance. Ooh, there’s nothing I love more than a bit of horrifying karma now and again!

The House Which Was Rent Free by G. M. Robins - this one didn’t stand out to me too much, but I did like the tiny hint of romance and the mysterious allusions to some calamity before the main protagonist was widowed.

The Lost Ghost by Mary E. Wilkins - already read this one too, and here’s what I said: another period story, this one is about a sweet, harmless and tragic little ghost. This one was much sadder than it was spooky, but I enjoyed it a lot, especially the happy ending.

The Striding Place by Gertrude Atherton - this one was very short but was interspersed with some interesting philosophy about life and death and had a killer ending when the drowning friend was pulled out of the water with no face.

The Prayer by Violet Hunt - a monkey’s paw kind of situation that results in a miserable marriage and tragedy for all involved.

[Karen Kohoutek · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent collection of Victorian ghost stories. Due to book club obligations, I had read three contemporary novels in a row and didn't like ANY of them. Picking this up was a balm to my weary brain. A variety of moods and points of view, but I felt like all the stories excelled in spooky ambiance, while also revealing a lot about real life at the time. Here's hoping for a second volume.

[Carmen Tudor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This a fantastic collection of some lesser known fem C19 authors. I'm so glad that Melissa Edmundson and Victorian Secrets produce anthologies like this! I've always loved the Dalby tomes for their inclusion of works threatened by either being overshadowed by male writers or by being forgotten, so this one (though shorter than Dalby's) is a very welcome addition to my collection. Please, please keep them coming.

[Jeff McIntosh · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the Introduction - "even the idea of what constitutes the various forms of the supernatural becomes a topic of debate as these writers explore and expand the definition of a "ghost". Again, from the Introduction - "give a sense of how women incorporated social themes in their supernatural fiction".

Many of these writers were unknown to me, aside from Nesbit and Wilkins....I prefer my ghosts to be more malevolent than the specters in this collection. That being said, I found the stories by Hunt "The Prayer" - whereby a wife wills her husband back from the dead, yet without a soul, to be moving. Nesbit's "From the Dead" equally moving...."In the Seance Room" is the story of Dr. Valentine Burke, who murders his lower class paramour in order to protect his career, yet is revealed in the end....

A book more at home in a course on women's literature....

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mixed bag of haunting tales. Some of the writing and storytelling was very fine here, but not all. A few stand-out stories. The first still strikes me as superior. The stories of ghostly presence and child abuse were disturbing and most sadly believable (if one is seeking a sense of belief in a ghost story). The wretched lot of unwanted children is a terrible truth, not only in the Victorian era. Some authors here I have not read previously. A collection I can recommend. A story collection featuring various authors will always have, to some extent, weaker tales and stronger writing, especially when attempting to represent such a broad theme.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved every story in this collection! They mostly focus on the plight of women and children and are all equally distressing. These definitely qualify as horror AND ghost stories. Some of them made my jaw drop at the brutality of the endings. There are no kindly ghosts here, looking to move on. These ones all died horribly and suffered from depression.

If you are a fan of MR James or Algernon Blackwood's supernatural stories, you'll enjoy this collection.

[Chuck McKenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great anthology of ghost stories by Victorian women authors. While the pace of some tales may not grab modern readers, there were sufficient works included to absolutely make this a book worth reading. Highlights for me included 'The Shadow in the Corner' (Mary Elizabeth Braddon), 'From the Dead' (Edith Nesbit), 'The Striding Place' (Gertrude Atherton) and 'The Four-Fifteen Express' (Amelia B. Edwards). Highly recommended.