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The Virago Book of Ghost Stories
Gathering together deliciously chilling tales from the three highly-acclaimed volumes of Virago ghost stories, this collection features stories by A.S. Byatt, Angela Carter, Charlotte Brontë, Antonia Fraser, Penelope Lively, Ruth Rendell, Edith Wharton, and many more. Here lost loves, past enmities, and unwanted memories mingle with the inexplicable as unquiet souls return to repay kindnesses, settle scores, and haunt the imagination. All of the writers demonstrate a subtle power to delight and chill at the same time as they explore the ghostly margins of the supernatural.
496 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1987
29 people are currently reading
1160 people want to read
About the author
Richard Dalby
125 books22 followersRichard Dalby (1949-2017) was an editor and literary researcher.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
August 19, 2017
The Virago Book of Ghost Stories combines two of my reading passions. First, of course, there are the ghost stories themselves, and these are, as Richard Dalby states in his preface, "arranged in chronological order," making for a great way to watch the development of the "form of the ghost story" over the last 150 years. The second thing I'm impressed with is that here, each and every story is written by a woman, some of them familiar to me and some who are much more obscure writers whose work I've just read for the first time. It is a superb collection and a definite must-have for the serious ghost-story aficionado, complete with little bio blurbs about each woman at the end of the book.
There are thirty-one stories in this book and while some are good, there are others that are downright great and for me there wasn't one bad one in the bunch. I suppose it's all about what people enjoy in a ghost story so I get that not everyone will share my enthusiasm, but I read them all of the time and I think it's one of the better collections I've come across. For me a ghost story isn't just about the chill -- in the best ones, there is a LOT happening underneath the story that deserves attention, especially when it's written by a woman. In both senses, I was not disappointed at all.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
http://www.oddlyweirdfiction.com/2017...
There are thirty-one stories in this book and while some are good, there are others that are downright great and for me there wasn't one bad one in the bunch. I suppose it's all about what people enjoy in a ghost story so I get that not everyone will share my enthusiasm, but I read them all of the time and I think it's one of the better collections I've come across. For me a ghost story isn't just about the chill -- in the best ones, there is a LOT happening underneath the story that deserves attention, especially when it's written by a woman. In both senses, I was not disappointed at all.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
http://www.oddlyweirdfiction.com/2017...
February 23, 2020
It took me 5 years to finish this book - not, I hasten to add, because I didn't enjoy it but, rather, because I savoured its stories, dipping into the anthology between longer reads. Indeed, I consider it one of my favourite supernatural anthologies in my not-negligible bookshelf of weird fiction.
The collection is itself a sort of "best of" compilation, bringing together over thirty of the finest stories in The Virago Book of Victorian Ghost Stories , The Virago Book of Ghost Stories: The Twentieth Century Volume I and The Virago Book of Ghost Stories: The Twentieth Century Volume II . Virago publishes exclusively fiction by women and this book is a corrective to supernatural anthologies which inexplicably sideline female authors . The collection ranges from the early 19th Century to contemporary fiction, and features authors who are considered to be specialists in the field (Edith Nesbit, Margaret Oliphant, Charlotte Riddell, Amelia Edwards to name but a few) alongside writers who occasionally delved into the genre (Charlotte Bronte, Antonia Fraser). Styles vary too - some stories set out to shock but most keep their terrors understated. The more contemporary offerings tend to be more experimental - ranging from comic stories, to reworkings of fairy tales, to poetic stories which verge on magical realism. The hauntings themselves are also varied in nature - haunted houses and castles abound, but there's also a possessed car, ghostly animals and - in "The Vacant Lot" - well, a haunted vacant lot.
This is an anthology which holds plenty of delights to the ghost story lover and proves that women writers were and still at the forefront of the development of supernatural fiction.
The collection is itself a sort of "best of" compilation, bringing together over thirty of the finest stories in The Virago Book of Victorian Ghost Stories , The Virago Book of Ghost Stories: The Twentieth Century Volume I and The Virago Book of Ghost Stories: The Twentieth Century Volume II . Virago publishes exclusively fiction by women and this book is a corrective to supernatural anthologies which inexplicably sideline female authors . The collection ranges from the early 19th Century to contemporary fiction, and features authors who are considered to be specialists in the field (Edith Nesbit, Margaret Oliphant, Charlotte Riddell, Amelia Edwards to name but a few) alongside writers who occasionally delved into the genre (Charlotte Bronte, Antonia Fraser). Styles vary too - some stories set out to shock but most keep their terrors understated. The more contemporary offerings tend to be more experimental - ranging from comic stories, to reworkings of fairy tales, to poetic stories which verge on magical realism. The hauntings themselves are also varied in nature - haunted houses and castles abound, but there's also a possessed car, ghostly animals and - in "The Vacant Lot" - well, a haunted vacant lot.
This is an anthology which holds plenty of delights to the ghost story lover and proves that women writers were and still at the forefront of the development of supernatural fiction.
September 12, 2017
Now, this is a fine book for the month of October-full of ghosts, macabre, supernatural and horror. I admit I was perhaps wrong to read it during the summer months, but there was at least one great advantage with this book; i. e. every time I started to read it and have read a few pages, I have fallen asleep during the hot and scorching Slovenian summer. That is not to say that the stories collected in this volume are boring or outdated. What also impressed me was the progress, or rather the development of the genre. This volume encompasses the stories from the 19th and 20th centuries and while reading it, one can almost see how the attitudes and the ways of writing a ghost story have changed during the last 150 or so years. There are some classical ghost stories, as well as some quite contemporary ones. I also liked the fact that all of the authors were women-hence Virago book, but Virago in a good, positive sense.
November 3, 2015
It took me forever to read this book, as I was reading it at a rate of a couple of stories a week for about a month and a bit. I’m still getting used to the short story thing, and I was writing and researching at the same time, which meant loads of crashing into bed at 3am and being dead to the world immediately. This equates to a phenomenally bad few months of reading!
I was really impressed with the majority of these stories. I liked how they were ordered chronologically, so that you could see the gradual changes in the ghost story style.
The real stand out favourite for me was “The Mistress in Black” by Rosemary Timperley, which I thought was absolutely phenomenal. It was the sort of short story that I wish I wrote. I have a feeling that I might write a wee story to add to it myself, I loved it that much… I want to fill in the blanks.
Antonia Fraser’s “Who’s Been Sitting in My Car” was pretty scary, and went wayyyyy beyond what I thought it would. “The Haunted Saucepan” was really quite fun, and A.S. Byatt’s contribution far better than I expected. There were a few stories that weren’t anywhere near the kind of standard I’d expect- I skipped two of them, one being “The Happy Autumn Fields”, as it was confusing and boring. However, only two really bad efforts in one collection is pretty decent, especially considering my relationship with short stories.
I was really impressed with the majority of these stories. I liked how they were ordered chronologically, so that you could see the gradual changes in the ghost story style.
The real stand out favourite for me was “The Mistress in Black” by Rosemary Timperley, which I thought was absolutely phenomenal. It was the sort of short story that I wish I wrote. I have a feeling that I might write a wee story to add to it myself, I loved it that much… I want to fill in the blanks.
Antonia Fraser’s “Who’s Been Sitting in My Car” was pretty scary, and went wayyyyy beyond what I thought it would. “The Haunted Saucepan” was really quite fun, and A.S. Byatt’s contribution far better than I expected. There were a few stories that weren’t anywhere near the kind of standard I’d expect- I skipped two of them, one being “The Happy Autumn Fields”, as it was confusing and boring. However, only two really bad efforts in one collection is pretty decent, especially considering my relationship with short stories.
Read
December 5, 2022PLACEHOLDER REVIEWS: reviewing some stories for next year's public domain showcase for PSEUDOPOD.org, I reread some things here.
"A Persistent Woman" by Marjorie Bowen is about a husband who wants to divorce his wife, until an awful event makes it obvious he will never escape her. Interesting as being a very early example of "flash fiction", clocking in at under a hundred and fifty words - it just gives you the idea and goes. Not bad.
"The Amorous Ghost" by Enid Bagnold - A man is convinced there is a female ghost haunting his room (and disrobing!), and what will he do when his wife gets back home from a trip away? This is a cute, Wodehousian thing - notable because, though it retains a humorous tone throughout, it ends on an eerie (if not unexpected) note.
"The Ghost" by Catherine Wells - a young girl, kept in bed by a fever during the big party, has been promised a visit by the famous actor in attendance - who plans on putting on a show of scaring the party by playing a ghost... Another fairly familiar "plot" for this short piece (you know exactly where it's going when the details start coming together) but still effectively done.
"Mr. Tallent's Ghost" by Mary Webb - A man agrees to be the literary executor for a stranger, and then finds himself, on the man's death, haunted by his interminably bad fiction - which also haunts the man's relatives who are grasping for his fortune (and up in arms that some of it has to go to publishing his drivel). I still find myself chuckling at the central conceit of this humorous story - which I imagine many editors would find funny - but still disappointed that the ending is a bit too "Scooby Doo."
The Waiting Room by Phyllis Bottome - a woman is at a cafe in a German town, one she associates with a quarrel she had with her beloved husbands minutes before his accidental death, when she makes a startling discovery and begins an intensive recollection of her feelings in the last few years. One of the joys of rereading is running across something like this - a story I read and loved initially, but then completely forgot about for years, and didn't even recognize at all as I reread it. And still loved it - a modern, well-written "sentimental ghost story," but only "kind of"...
"A Persistent Woman" by Marjorie Bowen is about a husband who wants to divorce his wife, until an awful event makes it obvious he will never escape her. Interesting as being a very early example of "flash fiction", clocking in at under a hundred and fifty words - it just gives you the idea and goes. Not bad.
"The Amorous Ghost" by Enid Bagnold - A man is convinced there is a female ghost haunting his room (and disrobing!), and what will he do when his wife gets back home from a trip away? This is a cute, Wodehousian thing - notable because, though it retains a humorous tone throughout, it ends on an eerie (if not unexpected) note.
"The Ghost" by Catherine Wells - a young girl, kept in bed by a fever during the big party, has been promised a visit by the famous actor in attendance - who plans on putting on a show of scaring the party by playing a ghost... Another fairly familiar "plot" for this short piece (you know exactly where it's going when the details start coming together) but still effectively done.
"Mr. Tallent's Ghost" by Mary Webb - A man agrees to be the literary executor for a stranger, and then finds himself, on the man's death, haunted by his interminably bad fiction - which also haunts the man's relatives who are grasping for his fortune (and up in arms that some of it has to go to publishing his drivel). I still find myself chuckling at the central conceit of this humorous story - which I imagine many editors would find funny - but still disappointed that the ending is a bit too "Scooby Doo."
The Waiting Room by Phyllis Bottome - a woman is at a cafe in a German town, one she associates with a quarrel she had with her beloved husbands minutes before his accidental death, when she makes a startling discovery and begins an intensive recollection of her feelings in the last few years. One of the joys of rereading is running across something like this - a story I read and loved initially, but then completely forgot about for years, and didn't even recognize at all as I reread it. And still loved it - a modern, well-written "sentimental ghost story," but only "kind of"...
July 19, 2014
Good collection of ghost stories. My favourites were:
The Story of Salome - Amelia B. Edwards - loved the setting of Venice, atmospheric and creepy
The Vacant Lot - Mary E. Wilkins - disturbing story, not about a haunted house but a haunted empty lot next to a family's new home
The Violet Car - E. Nesbit - unusual ghost story featuring a very scary car
The Eyes - Edith Wharton - chilling tale about a strange haunting
The Haunted Saucepan - Margery Lawrence - the creepiest story in the collection
The Book - Margaret Irwin - more a 'horror' story than a 'ghost' one, scary
The Mistress in Black - Rosemary Timperley - great little story about a haunted school.
Who's Been Sitting in My Car? - Antonia Fraser - like 'The Book' this one was more a horror story than a 'ghost' one, and again featuring one very scary car.
The Story of Salome - Amelia B. Edwards - loved the setting of Venice, atmospheric and creepy
The Vacant Lot - Mary E. Wilkins - disturbing story, not about a haunted house but a haunted empty lot next to a family's new home
The Violet Car - E. Nesbit - unusual ghost story featuring a very scary car
The Eyes - Edith Wharton - chilling tale about a strange haunting
The Haunted Saucepan - Margery Lawrence - the creepiest story in the collection
The Book - Margaret Irwin - more a 'horror' story than a 'ghost' one, scary
The Mistress in Black - Rosemary Timperley - great little story about a haunted school.
Who's Been Sitting in My Car? - Antonia Fraser - like 'The Book' this one was more a horror story than a 'ghost' one, and again featuring one very scary car.
October 22, 2010
I suppose that each reader's idea of a good ghost story is a little different. I found this a pretty satisfying mix of charming and creepy tales, with a few that just went "clunk" in the night. I liked "Don't Tell Cissie" for its colorful characters and a surprise ending and "The Open Door" for its endearing narrative voice and its suspense.
My advice: this book is best enjoyed when nibbled, one story at a time. Take it in big gulps and you can't help but be fretfully aware of how similar the elements of the classic ghost story are.
My advice: this book is best enjoyed when nibbled, one story at a time. Take it in big gulps and you can't help but be fretfully aware of how similar the elements of the classic ghost story are.
April 3, 2014
My threshhold for scariness is quite high and these stories did not really qualify as scary. But that's ok. They were entertaining all the same. These were gentler, Victorian ghost stories - mostly. They are bittersweet, often sad or tragic stories of people who are lost between worlds or not able to go to their final rest. I really liked the brief description of each of the authors. I also liked how the stories were ordered by publication date. Very interesting to compare the more modern stories with the earlier stories. Recommended.
September 21, 2011
I give this collection of stories a solid four but if we were judging books by cover alone then it would get a 5 since it glows in the dark.
The Virago Book of Ghost Stories is a collection of ghost stories written by women and ranging from the nineteenth and the twenty centuries. Editor Richard Dalby wanted to showcase how ghost stories have progressed through out the years.
Some were complete clunkers such as The Open Door and The Happy Autumn Fields, some were good like Edith Wharton's The Eyes and The Book by Margaret Irwin. Like all short story collections this anthology is a mixed bag but I'd still recommend it to anyone to read on a chilly autumn night.
The Virago Book of Ghost Stories is a collection of ghost stories written by women and ranging from the nineteenth and the twenty centuries. Editor Richard Dalby wanted to showcase how ghost stories have progressed through out the years.
Some were complete clunkers such as The Open Door and The Happy Autumn Fields, some were good like Edith Wharton's The Eyes and The Book by Margaret Irwin. Like all short story collections this anthology is a mixed bag but I'd still recommend it to anyone to read on a chilly autumn night.
June 29, 2015
I selected this book as I love a good ghost story, and often the oldies are the best. This was a collection of Victorian ghost stories from women writers, and whilst I'm sure some people will enjoy them they just weren't my cup of tea. In fact I trawled my way through 2 and 1/2 of them before giving up. The one about the violet car; what was that all about? Of the stories I read, they had the potential to be really great but just didn't deliver in terms of a good twist ending or sustained atmosphere. It's a shame as the cover of the edition I read was quite spooky and promising.
September 11, 2018
This is another excellent anthology of ghost stories, in this particular case all by women and many from the earlier part of the 20th century. The most outstanding story in this collection is "Three Miles Up" by Elizabeth Jane Howard. Two men undertake a holiday journey by boat through the inland waterways of England, only to find that weeds and other vegetative growth hinder their voyage and make it impossible to determine where they are going. They pick up a young woman who is lying by the side of the canal. It doesn't sound like much but .... it's creepily atmospheric and strange. It reminds me a bit of "The Willows" by Algernon Blackwood. Howard had a relationship with Robert Aickman who, in addition to being one of the grand masters of the weird/strange story tradition, was a published expert on the U.K. inland waterway system. Just a little tidbit that makes it interesting. There are many other excellent stories in this collection and it's definitely worth reading.
September 28, 2009
I have to read this for women's literature. So far I am not impressed :(
Update/Review:
Overall not a terrible collection of short stories. Some of them were pretty bad ghost stories, some of them were simply... unagreeably written, and some of them had some neat ideas. I didn't read all of them, thankfully, but I can never be overly upset nor overly impressed by short stories. Their brevity is a medium of neutrality. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone unless they're suckers for that genre, like the kids in that Disney movie, Under Wraps. Ah to be... 10? jesus that movie's old.
Update/Review:
Overall not a terrible collection of short stories. Some of them were pretty bad ghost stories, some of them were simply... unagreeably written, and some of them had some neat ideas. I didn't read all of them, thankfully, but I can never be overly upset nor overly impressed by short stories. Their brevity is a medium of neutrality. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone unless they're suckers for that genre, like the kids in that Disney movie, Under Wraps. Ah to be... 10? jesus that movie's old.
October 28, 2019
Some of the older stories are less effective than they probably were in their day, but a good selection, nevertheless.
Reread: I enjoyed the later stories which were much more thought provoking than the straight forward ghostly experiences.
Reread: I enjoyed the later stories which were much more thought provoking than the straight forward ghostly experiences.
July 13, 2012
A sprawling cross section of ghost stories written by women across the last two centuries. This is an interesting editorial project, and would be useful for anyone tracing the through-lines of supernatural fiction over time. Because of the breadth, the quality tends to vary pretty widely--some of the early stories fall into genre patterns so predictable my 21st century mind could only imagine a melodramatic organ chord by the end. That said, there were enough highlights to make this a worthwhile collection to pick up.
Edith Wharton, Angela Carter, Charlotte Bronte, A.S. Byatt, and Antonia Fraser appear here alongside a number of women writers who have faded to relative obscurity (one of the reasons I picked this up to begin with is that I really admire Virago's mission to rediscover some of these lost gems). Will definitely seek out more from Margery Lawrence and Richmal Crompton.
Edith Wharton, Angela Carter, Charlotte Bronte, A.S. Byatt, and Antonia Fraser appear here alongside a number of women writers who have faded to relative obscurity (one of the reasons I picked this up to begin with is that I really admire Virago's mission to rediscover some of these lost gems). Will definitely seek out more from Margery Lawrence and Richmal Crompton.
April 9, 2016
I read the Dutch translation, called 'De Nachtzuster' (The Night Nurse), with a foreword by Renate Dorrestein. But I'm too lazy to upload this edition to Goodreads ;)
While this Dutch version was perhaps not perfectly edited -there are some mistakes here and there- it didn't affect the experience much. The collection of stories has an interesting overall theme and provides a lovely chronological overview of the genre.
As is bound to be the case with books that combine the stories of so many different authors (and different translators) from over a large period of time, some stories will appeal to you more than others. But I would recommend this book to any lover of ghost stories and gothic literature.
While this Dutch version was perhaps not perfectly edited -there are some mistakes here and there- it didn't affect the experience much. The collection of stories has an interesting overall theme and provides a lovely chronological overview of the genre.
As is bound to be the case with books that combine the stories of so many different authors (and different translators) from over a large period of time, some stories will appeal to you more than others. But I would recommend this book to any lover of ghost stories and gothic literature.
March 16, 2011
i think this book started out really good, with a lot of fantastic short stories by realy good authors. they were creepy and detailed, but i'm not sure they were creepy enough to have been classed as an adult book. the later stories were not nearly as good, and, against everything i try to do, i ended up skim reading later stoires to find interesting bits. overall a decent book but not one i would read again and, in my opinion, more a teen read than an adult book.
October 13, 2010
Mixed bunch of ghost stories written by women. The major themes were revenge and betrayal. The only good one I remember was the husband who went to bed while waiting for his wife to come home from a trip to see her relatives. He fell asleep but then woke to someone very cold getting into bed with him….It was then that he heard his wife getting out of her car in the driveway.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 28, 2016
I keep consuming, and being mildly disappointed by, collections of ghost stories -- like snaffling pack after pack of Revels, and wondering why the toffee ones aren't spooky enough.
There are plenty of A-list names in this collection, but the stories I enjoyed most were Margaret Irwin's "The Book" and A.S. Byatt's "The July Ghost".
There are plenty of A-list names in this collection, but the stories I enjoyed most were Margaret Irwin's "The Book" and A.S. Byatt's "The July Ghost".
October 6, 2012
It had a bit of a slow start with the first few stories being not the best I have ever read. After you get a couple of stories in though it gets quite good. Many of the stories included are very good indeed. Very imaginative reading.
April 18, 2008
I loved some of these stories. Some of them were amusing like "The Haunted Saucepan". :) All of these stories were written by Victorian women which is interesting.
March 23, 2013
I will reread next autumn or read ones that I missed!
December 29, 2015
A bit more sad than scary, but otherwise nice stories.
June 10, 2016
Αναμενόμενα άνισο, με τουλάχιστον 6 ιστορίες αρκετά καλές και άλλες τόσες μάλλον μέτριες. Κορυφαίες όλων, ο Μαύρος Σκύλος της Πενελόπι Λάιβλι και Το Φαντασμα του Ιούλη της Α. Σ. Μπάιατ.
July 11, 2016
A collection of ghost stories written by women. An excellent selection.
November 21, 2016
Great collection of ghost tales by female authors. Two thumbs up.
May 16, 2018
3 αστέρια, γιατί νιώθω πολύ γενναιόδωρη σήμερα
March 5, 2023
Mixed bag. Some are great, some decidedly not.
June 27, 2020
I loved the stories — almost all were new to me!
The book I read (published in 1987) does not match the description on Goodreads but its title is indeed The Virago Book of Ghost Stories. Perhaps it’s an earlier version, but the authors in my edition are different and include (not a complete list):
E. Nesbit
Henrietta Everett
May Sinclair
Eleanor Glasgow
Marjorie Lambe
Enid Bagnold
Marjorie Bowen
Phyllis Bottome
Catherine Wells
Eleanor Scott
Rosemary Timperley
Edith Wharton
Elizabeth Taylor
Fay Weldon
The book I read (published in 1987) does not match the description on Goodreads but its title is indeed The Virago Book of Ghost Stories. Perhaps it’s an earlier version, but the authors in my edition are different and include (not a complete list):
E. Nesbit
Henrietta Everett
May Sinclair
Eleanor Glasgow
Marjorie Lambe
Enid Bagnold
Marjorie Bowen
Phyllis Bottome
Catherine Wells
Eleanor Scott
Rosemary Timperley
Edith Wharton
Elizabeth Taylor
Fay Weldon
December 28, 2024
Είχα ακούσει πολλές καλές κριτικές για αυτήν την ανθολογία. Οπότε ήθελα σαν τρελός να τη διαβάσω και την ξεκίνησα με χαρά μόλις έπεσε στα χέρια μου. Απογοήτευση! Ειδικά οι πρώτες ιστορίες δεν κατάφεραν να κρατήσουν καθόλου. Ευτυχώς προς το τέλος μοιράζονται κάπως οι καλές και οι μέτριες ιστορίες και έτσι μου άφησε μια καλή γεύση. Δεν πιστεύω ότι δεν αξίζει, αλλά σίγουρα δεν είναι του γούστου μου. Ίσως αυτοί που απολαμβάνουν τις ιστορίες με φαντάσματα και γοτθικού μυστηρίου (γιατί τρόμου δεν είναι) να το απολαύσουν περισσοτερο
May 18, 2020
So here's the thing: I love classic ghost stories, and I love spooky stories or just plain mysterious stories. These stories were boring as hell. I'm sure it's because we live in a desensitized world where we're so used to terror that something as tame as these stories falls flat. I'm sure these would have been spooky as can be for Victorian ladies sitting in their parlors, tittering behind their fans. 21st century ladies need a bit more suspense, I'm afraid.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews