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Ghost Stories and Other Horrid Tales
Twenty-three stories selected, illustrated and with a preface by Charles W. Stewart.
319 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 29, 2025
I love ghost stories and this anthology from The Folio Society is composed of mainly ‘classic’ stories from a selection of authors all born in the 19th century. They are J. Sheridan Le Fanu, Robert Louis Stevenson, Lafcadio Hearn, Vernon Lee, M.R. James, Walter de la Mere and Marjorie Bowen.
Some of the stories are a little tame and one of them, Thrawn Janet, is written in Highland Scots and, therefore, quite a challenge to read at all. Many are excellent, however, and build suspense and tension with beautiful prose that is a pleasure to read. They encompass times and places varying from Japan to Medieval Italy, Reformation Holland, 19th century France and England, of course.
The book is well illustrated by Charles W. Stewart, who also chose the stories and wrote the preface, which throws light on his personal history and how he came to enjoy ghost stories.
All in all, I enjoyed this book very much and will re-read it from time-to-time. I love ghost stories in winter, especially when the weather is howling and the windows rattle, even if the rattling is in my imagination.
Four stars.
Some of the stories are a little tame and one of them, Thrawn Janet, is written in Highland Scots and, therefore, quite a challenge to read at all. Many are excellent, however, and build suspense and tension with beautiful prose that is a pleasure to read. They encompass times and places varying from Japan to Medieval Italy, Reformation Holland, 19th century France and England, of course.
The book is well illustrated by Charles W. Stewart, who also chose the stories and wrote the preface, which throws light on his personal history and how he came to enjoy ghost stories.
All in all, I enjoyed this book very much and will re-read it from time-to-time. I love ghost stories in winter, especially when the weather is howling and the windows rattle, even if the rattling is in my imagination.
Four stars.
November 2, 2020
Collections of stories are always going to be hit and miss for me, and this gorgeous book of ghost stories definitely fell in the middle of the road in terms of ratings.
On the one hand, we have some excellent absolutely five star stories here - my favourites were the Japanese ghost stories and retellings of spooky Japanese plays, as well as some solid stories by Vernon Lee and Robert Louis Stevenson etc. Amoure Dure, in particular, was an excellent story and I absolutely loved it.
On the other hand, there are a few entries in this anthology that completely fell flat for me. Thrawn Janet was written in complete highlands Scots which made it a real chore and there are a lot of stories about vaguely haunted cathedrals that didn't quite hit the mark either.
A good collection and perfect for halloween reading, but too many stories that veered into boring for me to completely love it.
3 stars
On the one hand, we have some excellent absolutely five star stories here - my favourites were the Japanese ghost stories and retellings of spooky Japanese plays, as well as some solid stories by Vernon Lee and Robert Louis Stevenson etc. Amoure Dure, in particular, was an excellent story and I absolutely loved it.
On the other hand, there are a few entries in this anthology that completely fell flat for me. Thrawn Janet was written in complete highlands Scots which made it a real chore and there are a lot of stories about vaguely haunted cathedrals that didn't quite hit the mark either.
A good collection and perfect for halloween reading, but too many stories that veered into boring for me to completely love it.
3 stars
November 2, 2018
Nothing new in here - it is an anthology after all - but it is a beautiful thing to own. The Folio Society creates books that are lovely to look at, to handle and to read.
I did enjoy the Japanese tales of Lafcadio Hearn as they were unknown to me but the others are mostly well known stories by the usual suspects which is no bad thing.
I did enjoy the Japanese tales of Lafcadio Hearn as they were unknown to me but the others are mostly well known stories by the usual suspects which is no bad thing.
November 15, 2025
I've not read older horror stories before and I was worried they would seem slow, dull and not scary to modern audiences. While this is true for some of the stories in this collection it was a minority and I thoroughly enjoyed the oldy timey language and variety of voices and settings. No out and out scares but some good creeps for an October read.
October 28, 2017
Late night rainy night subtle Victorian horror
November 28, 2011
A nice collection of Ghost stories, all set in a time period from the 1600's to the late 1800's... Some of these were actually quite scary, which was a pleasant surprise, since that's what I wanted them to be!
A splendidly illustrated and compiled book, and produced the the Folio Society's high standards, I have no doubt I'll be revisiting this at some point.
Highlights for me were:
Madam Crowl's Ghost by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
Amour Dure by Vernon Lee
Lost Hearts by M. R. James
All Hallow's by Walter De La Mere
The Bishop of Hell by Marjorie Bowen
Probably time for some more 'wintry' reading now!
A splendidly illustrated and compiled book, and produced the the Folio Society's high standards, I have no doubt I'll be revisiting this at some point.
Highlights for me were:
Madam Crowl's Ghost by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
Amour Dure by Vernon Lee
Lost Hearts by M. R. James
All Hallow's by Walter De La Mere
The Bishop of Hell by Marjorie Bowen
Probably time for some more 'wintry' reading now!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews