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Shadows on the Wall: Dark Tales by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
The disquieting tales of New England author Mary E. Wilkins Freeman explore a world of domestic spaces turned uncanny, hopeful youths grasped by the spirits of vengeful ancestors and nature made sinister when the effects of twisted physics suggest some supernormal influence.
Collecting the best of the author’s strange and unsettling tales – including two stories which have long evaded her anthologists – this volume casts a light on an underappreciated contributor to weird fiction, and the shadowy corners of a dark imagination.
Collecting the best of the author’s strange and unsettling tales – including two stories which have long evaded her anthologists – this volume casts a light on an underappreciated contributor to weird fiction, and the shadowy corners of a dark imagination.
283 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 20, 2022
15 people are currently reading
342 people want to read
About the author
Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman
701 books83 followersMary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman was born in Randolph, Massachusetts, and attended Mount Holyoke College (then, Mount Holyoke Female Seminary) in South Hadley, Massachusetts, for one year, from 1870–71. Freeman's parents were orthodox Congregationalists, causing her to have a very strict childhood.
Religious constraints play a key role in some of her works. She later finished her education at West Brattleboro Seminary. She passed the greater part of her life in Massachusetts and Vermont.
Freeman began writing stories and verse for children while still a teenager to help support her family and was quickly successful. Her best known work was written in the 1880s and 1890s while she lived in Randolph. She produced more than two dozen volumes of published short stories and novels. She is best known for two collections of stories, A Humble Romance and Other Stories (1887) and A New England Nun and Other Stories (1891). Her stories deal mostly with New England life and are among the best of their kind. Freeman is also remembered for her novel Pembroke (1894), and she contributed a notable chapter to the collaborative novel The Whole Family (1908). In 1902 she married Doctor Charles M. Freeman of Metuchen, New Jersey.
In April 1926, Freeman became the first recipient of the William Dean Howells Medal for Distinction in Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She died in Metuchen and was interred in Hillside Cemetery in Scotch Plains, New Jersey.
Religious constraints play a key role in some of her works. She later finished her education at West Brattleboro Seminary. She passed the greater part of her life in Massachusetts and Vermont.
Freeman began writing stories and verse for children while still a teenager to help support her family and was quickly successful. Her best known work was written in the 1880s and 1890s while she lived in Randolph. She produced more than two dozen volumes of published short stories and novels. She is best known for two collections of stories, A Humble Romance and Other Stories (1887) and A New England Nun and Other Stories (1891). Her stories deal mostly with New England life and are among the best of their kind. Freeman is also remembered for her novel Pembroke (1894), and she contributed a notable chapter to the collaborative novel The Whole Family (1908). In 1902 she married Doctor Charles M. Freeman of Metuchen, New Jersey.
In April 1926, Freeman became the first recipient of the William Dean Howells Medal for Distinction in Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She died in Metuchen and was interred in Hillside Cemetery in Scotch Plains, New Jersey.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 14, 2022
Entertaining horror listening
This was in Box set Classic tales of Horror - 500+
Edward has die. The three sisters are in the library sowing, writing, and reading and a shadow appears on the wall. The bother Henry goes crazy trying to find the source. Then he leaves for three days and is dead then there are two shadows. Enjoy reading 2022
This was in Box set Classic tales of Horror - 500+
Edward has die. The three sisters are in the library sowing, writing, and reading and a shadow appears on the wall. The bother Henry goes crazy trying to find the source. Then he leaves for three days and is dead then there are two shadows. Enjoy reading 2022
August 24, 2022
Did not enjoy it as much. Don't like the use of local American dialect, difficult to follow. Enjoyed few stories like , school teacher, a gentle ghost, the wind on the rise bush, and luella miller
January 5, 2023
Do not read this. It will not be worth it. This has been painful to finish in its sheer mediocrity. The most enjoyable part of any tale within has been getting to update my Goodreads.
The best story within, I would say, was probably the eponymous “Shadows on the Wall.” This was only decent. I was quite interested in this book from the small quote on the back, from this selfsame tale; unfortunately, I believe that this line was the single best in the whole book. None of the other bland descriptions of the same scenes match it.
I do not recommend this book to those looking for a fright, nor to the faint of heart. I do not recommend it to those looking for modern action, nor for those looking for classic literature. I do not recommend it to the young nor to the old. I recommend it not even to a 19th century New England housewife, because she will find nothing herein but exactly what she goes through every single day, with perhaps a bland ghost tale or two—but she has probably heard enough ghost stories for all this to hold any interest, too. Nothing in this book is novel or fresh, and nothing that it has done has been done well. The whole book is also mostly in an old New England dialect, which personally made it very annoying to read. Not difficult at all, just grating.
Perhaps your experience could be different. But I would recommend you avoid having one with this book at all.
1/5. 1/10. 1/20. I will never reread this again, if I have a will at all to prevent me.
The best story within, I would say, was probably the eponymous “Shadows on the Wall.” This was only decent. I was quite interested in this book from the small quote on the back, from this selfsame tale; unfortunately, I believe that this line was the single best in the whole book. None of the other bland descriptions of the same scenes match it.
I do not recommend this book to those looking for a fright, nor to the faint of heart. I do not recommend it to those looking for modern action, nor for those looking for classic literature. I do not recommend it to the young nor to the old. I recommend it not even to a 19th century New England housewife, because she will find nothing herein but exactly what she goes through every single day, with perhaps a bland ghost tale or two—but she has probably heard enough ghost stories for all this to hold any interest, too. Nothing in this book is novel or fresh, and nothing that it has done has been done well. The whole book is also mostly in an old New England dialect, which personally made it very annoying to read. Not difficult at all, just grating.
Perhaps your experience could be different. But I would recommend you avoid having one with this book at all.
1/5. 1/10. 1/20. I will never reread this again, if I have a will at all to prevent me.
March 21, 2023
Another brilliant collection from the British Library Tales of the Weird series! I first read Mary E. Wilkins Freeman's excellent story "The Wind in the Rose-bush" in Weird Women: Classic Supernatural Fiction by Groundbreaking Female Writers, 1852-1923 and knew I needed to read more of her works. This collections is so good! The aforementioned story is reprinted here as well and I loved my experience rereading it. Another favourites are:
"The School Teacher's Story" - a bit sad and I LOVED the narrator!
"The Vacant Lot" - spoooooooky
"A Gentle Ghost" - sombre but rather quite lovely
And as I keep saying, "The Wind in the Rose-bush" is just amazing, so do check it out!
"The School Teacher's Story" - a bit sad and I LOVED the narrator!
"The Vacant Lot" - spoooooooky
"A Gentle Ghost" - sombre but rather quite lovely
And as I keep saying, "The Wind in the Rose-bush" is just amazing, so do check it out!
February 14, 2023
Not a terrifying collection by any standards. The stories here are sometimes, but not always, rather unsettling but they don't lean into horror territory with the exception of "Silence" which is more about the horrors of war than the supernatural. The typical Wilkins protagonist is a woman, often a teacher, who rolls her sleeves up and uncovers or resolves the supernatural mystery but without too much fear. Lots of real strengths, especially in the portrayal of isolated communities, well worth reader if you don't mind the milder end of the spectrum of supernatural fiction.
November 26, 2022
A slight departure for the British Library Tales of the Weird series to focus on a single American author, but Freeman’s stories are well worth it. Some are ghost stories but others aren’t so easily defined. Most have female protagonists and marginalised ones at that - mature spinsters and elderly widows - and the abiding feeling is one of unease rather than fear.
November 14, 2022
I love these creepy, slow-burn, low-stakes gothic ghost tales!
April 7, 2023
Interesting story
July 16, 2023
Dull. Dialect tedious and stories repetitive. The one exception is The School Teacher's Story. The main character reminded me of the protagonist of True Grit.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews