The Lady Chillers: Classic Ghost and Horror Stories by Women Authors

by Elizabeth Gaskell, Henrietta Dorothy Everett, Alice Perrin

If you enjoy period ghost stories of that bygone England of country house parties, servants and hansom cabs, with foggy London nights and sinister goings-on in the churchyard, you’ll love this varied and entertaining collection of chillers from some of the greatest-ever mistresses of the macabre and supernatural.

The ghost and horror short story reached its zenith in Victorian and Edwardian Britain, and women authors of the day seemed particularly attracted to the genre. This brand-new anthology presents fifteen complete tales of spooks, horror and the occult, ranging in length from a few pages to almost a novella, and including some extremely rare and hard-to-find gems that richly deserve a new readership.

Many of the tales were first published in the popular periodicals of the age such as Charles Dickens’ ‘Household Words’. Each story is by a different lady author, and each is preceded by an introduction and biographical notes about these fascinating and talented women with their hyperactive imaginations and common desire to scare, shock, thrill and thoroughly rattle their readers.

The text has been carefully edited and formatted for Kindle and compatible devices, with an active Table of Contents and section markers to enable easy browsing and a smooth, enjoyable reading experience.

Contents:

‘The Whispering Wall’ by Henrietta Everett
‘The Old Nurse’s Story’ by Elizabeth Gaskell
‘The Summoning of Arnold’ by Alice Perrin
‘The Open Door’ by Charlotte Riddell
‘Seen in the Moonlight’ by Ellen Wood
‘The Missing Model’ by Lettice Galbraith
‘The Dutch Officer’s Story’ by Catherine Crowe
‘Witnessed by Two’ by Mary Molesworth
‘The Picture on the Wall’ by Katharine Tynan
‘The Phantom Coach’ by Amelia Edwards
‘John Charrington’s Wedding’ by Edith Nesbit
‘The Shadow in the Corner’ by Mary Braddon
‘The Man with the Nose’ by Rhoda Broughton
‘How He Left the Hotel’ by Louisa Baldwin
‘The Haunted Organist of Hurly Burly’ by Rosa Mulholland

Total length: 86,000 words, equivalent to around 250 paperback pages.


Also check out these other great Kindle titles in the same series:

‘Hauntings and Horrors’ – the collected ghost stories of E. F. Benson.

‘The Beast with Five Fingers’ – the collected weird tales of W. F. Harvey, Edwardian master of the psychological mystery.

‘The Gap in the Curtain’ – John Buchan’s fascinating borderline science fiction story of predestiny and free will.

'The Greatest Ghost Stories of M. R. James and His Circle (1871-1928)' - 24 haunting tales from the golden age of supernatural short fiction

Genres: Horror

239 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 5, 2012

About the author

Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, née Stevenson (29 September 1810 – 12 November 1865), often referred to simply as Mrs. Gaskell, was an English novelist and short story writer during the Victorian era. Her novels offer a detailed portrait of the lives of many strata of society, including the very poor, and as such are of interest to social historians as well as lovers of literature.

AKA:
Елізабет Гаскелл (Ukrainian)

Reviews

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I heartedly recommend “The Lady Chillers: Classic ghost and horror stories by women writers.” All the women flourished during the Victorian and Edwardian periods. Some, like Elizabeth Gaskell, Amelia Edwards, and Edith Nesbit, are still fairly frequently read but most of the 15 writers in this interesting collection are nearly forgotten--though they were well-known in their day.

Each story is prefaced by an introduction which gives some information about the author and a few non-spoiler comments about each tale. What is remarkable is the very high quality of these stories and novelettes. Some are quite unforgettable.

“The Lady Chillers” is a Kindle ebook and quite moderately priced. Since all the authors are in the public domain one could find the stories and download them free of charge from Project Gutenberg but it is worth the very modest price to get them already formatted as an ebook. There is also the advantage of using this volume to explore the genre so as to discover which of these writers you may particularly enjoy. Then look them up in PG to see what is available for free.

As I said, this is an ebook and so far as I know, there is no equivalent publication in either Hardback or Paperback formats.

[H.C. Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has been a real treat to read. Some absolutely cracking stories, wonderful to read and some genuine chills from a handful of the varied tales. There were only about three that I couldn't get into and found myself skipping through the pages. Interesting that the more adventurous stories had male leads, in fact quite a lot of them did, which perhaps says something of the more restrictive lives of our Victorian sisters. Most of these are ghost stories but there are recognisable horror elements in some stories which goes to show a love of the macabre is not a new thing. Loved the brief introductions to each writer too.