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The Virago Book of Ghost Stories: The Twentieth Century
Book by Dalby, Richard (editor) (A. S. Byatt; Ma
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1991
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About the author
Richard Dalby
125 books22 followersRichard Dalby (1949-2017) was an editor and literary researcher.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 24, 2023
An intriguing collection of ghost stories by women, originally published by Virago in 1987 as part of a short, ongoing series of supernatural fiction. All of these pieces were written during the twentieth century ranging from work by Edwardian writers like Edith Wharton and Edith Nesbit to more contemporary authors like Joan Aiken, Ruth Rendell and A. S. Byatt. The, eerie rather than gory, entries also seem to be united by an emphasis on personal relationships and the domestic. Celia Fremlin’s oddly tongue-in-cheek “Don’t Tell Cissie” focuses on longstanding friendships between women; Joan Aiken’s “The Traitor” is an unusual play on childhood memories; Antonia Fraser’s slightly bizarre “Who’s Been Sitting in My Car?” is a fascinating exploration of gender roles – here centred on a single mother who’s clearly considered an oddity just for living without a man – and what would now be considered coercive control; while Penelope Lively’s “Black Dog” is the first ghost story I’ve encountered that revolves around menopause and aging. Mary Williams’s “The Thingummyjig” and Eleanor Smith’s “Whittington’s Cat” are inventive, memorable reworkings of more traditional notions of malign spirits invading the lives of unsuspecting, isolated victims. Potentially malevolent or suspicious objects surface here too: notably in a reprint of an old favourite Mary Butts's eccentric, but beautifully composed, “With or Without Buttons”; and in the simmering, sinister “The Book” by Margaret Irwin. There are some less successful entries like Jean Rhys’s “I Used to Live Here Once” more tantalising fragment than fully-developed narrative but equally some unexpected gems such as Irish writer Clothilde Graves’s 1915 “A Spirit Elopement” which builds on the revival of spiritualism and mediums in the years up to and including WW1.
November 10, 2020
I have Monster, She Wrote by Lisa Kröger & Melanie R.Anderson to thank for this read. I realized I had read so little horror fiction by female authors and needed to make up for it. That read reminded me of a book that my mum got 16 years ago: This one. As it contains fairly classic ghost stories I was expecting at least a decent amount of them to be on the dry side. I couldn’t have been more wrong. There were none that I actively disliked, and they all spanned from quite alright- quite good. I’ve marked the ones that stuck with me with an “*”. So, onwards to the stories:
*The July Ghost (A.S. Byatt):
A man tells an American woman he has just met about his experience of seeing the ghost of his landlady’s son in the garden and the reason for the boy’s appearances.
With and Without Buttons (Mary Butts):
2 sisters play a prank on their male neighbor by planting the suggestion that something is off with the house due to the former resident(s), specifically a woman who was nice about her hands. To build on this, they then plan to drop kid gloves (both with and without buttons) for him to find. Things take a sinister turn when the glove-prank seems to start on its own accord before they’ve even managed to drop the first glove and furthermore, the gloves start to appear in their part of the house.
*Don’t Tell Cissie (Celia Fremlin):
Rosemary and Lois are long-time friends who decide to go ghost hunting in Rosemary’s cabin. The cabin is supposedly haunted by a woman who drowned herself in the nearby marsh. As they prepare to leave there is one important thing on their mind: Don’t let Cissie know about the trip. Cissie is a friend (or more like someone who hovers around them) who insists on coming along for everything although she always inadvertently ruins things.
I actually quite enjoyed this story and found the friendship dynamic similar to what I remember from high school (never mind the fact that the characters are close to retirement age). The story mixes the funny with the tragic and comes with an ending that would make me think twice about revisiting the cabin.
*The Book (Margaret Irwin):
A tale of the possession of a father after he finds an ancient book on the 2nd shelf. Quite short and surprisingly spooky (at least for those of us who enjoy reading as the first sign of something not being right is the people living in the house finding themselves actively disliking books they’d otherwise enjoy).
*The Grey Men (Rebecca West):
The main character is in a nursing home because of blood poisoning when she has the strangest fever dream of a limo, beings in grey with aviators’ helmets standing sentinels and abducting another inhabitant. Was it really all a dream though? Impressive existential horror for its short 5 pages.
The Pool (Daphne du Maurier):
DdM is one of these authors I’ve been meaning to read but not gotten around to, so I’m quite happy this short was included in the anthology. This is ultimately the coming of age story (and the disappointment that can follow) of the main character Deborah. Deborah and her little brother are spending a scorching summer at their grandparents and she tries to sneak of to a pool in the woods as often as possible. This pool attracts other apparitions as well, and Deborah longs to join what she comes to see as a secret world. The story didn’t really do it for me like the other ones, and ended up being a bit of a let down although I’m not ready to give up on DdM just yet.
The Station Road (Ann Bridge):
A wife is on her way to pick up a visitor coming in by train. As she makes her way over she sees apparitions eerily similar to the man she is meeting. A very classic ghost story.
*Black Dog (Penelope Lively):
Brenda is a housewife and being haunted by a black dog only she is able to see in the garden and on the porch. Her family thinks she is loosing it, but is she though? I quite enjoyed this story and felt it echoed Poe nicely. I saw someone interpret the dog as menopause/aging and the story does leave room for many points of views. What I took away from it was Brenda taking control of the dog meant her gaining back the control of her own life.
*No.17 (E. Nesbit):
A classic “people listening to someone tell a ghost story”-tale. Room 17 is not a place you’d want to stay as several men have been found with their throats cut. Very short but surprisingly funny story.
Prelude (Pamela Sewell):
Elaine gifts her 6 year old daughter Lori a piano. Her late husband was a talented musician but complicated man who passed away just before Lori was born. The gift is very well received but Elaine soon starts hearing someone playing the piano late at night and doesn’t like the personality changes her daughter seem to go through.
*The Pestering (D.K. Broster):
One of the longest stories in this anthology. It’s a classic “couple buys new place to live, finds that it is haunted” by an apparition showing up at the door begging to be let in to find a chest. The ghost keeps bothering them and the wife, at one point thinking it to be the hubby, tells it to go in. So begins the haunting inside and a desperate search to find the chest to rid themselves of the bothersome ghost. I quite enjoyed this.
I Used to Live Here Once (Jean Rhys):
Somehow Rhys managed to write a coherent and melancholic ghost story spanning less than 1,5 pages about a woman making her way to her former home noting all the changes done to the area as she walks; unaware that the biggest change is the one that has happened to her.
*A Spirit Elopement (Clotilde Graves):
A ghostly love story of sorts. A newly married woman is annoyed and jealous to find a female apparition haunting her husband and decides to play tit for tat by calling on the ghost of a man.
*Whittington’s Cat (Eleanor Smith):
A young aspiring author plans to write a book about pantomime and goes to the local one every night. One evening whilst there he finds himself overtaken by a pantomime cat who persuades him to take it home. The cat controls his house, life and will until his friends intervene. Surprisingly enjoyable read and I won’t be looking at pantomime the same way again.
The Haunting of Shawley Rectory (Ruth Rendell):
A haunted rectory, several (but not all) families that have lived there have reported ghostly activities. Some have not lasted long. The main character and his friend spend a night there hoping to witness supernatural activities but are left disappointed. Things take a dark turn (I didn’t see coming) when a woman with a teenaged daughter buys and fixes up the rectory.
Mare Amore (Margery Lawrence):
A wife has forced her sailor husband to leave the sea for good, but it is doubtful that the spirit of the sea is willing to let him go without a fight.
Who’s Been Sitting In My Car (Antonia Fraser):
If there’s one thing this short and King’s Christine has taught me it would be that used cars are a bad idea. Jacobine got a used car suspiciously cheap and soon starts finding cigarette butts in the car. She doesn’t smoke and no one else has keys to it. Sadly, this is only the beginning.
*The Ghosts of Calagou (Elizabeth Fancett):
Gold miner Regis is the last survivor of an initial party of 4. He wanted to stop the search earlier as he thought they had found enough and the weather would soon be too hot, their supplies run out and the animals die. He wasn’t wrong but was forcibly kept there by the others who eventually all died. He makes his way back to town, exhausted and either delirious or haunted by his former partners who are angry that he made it out with the gold alive. Things don’t end well for poor Regus.
Afterward (Edith Wharton):
The story starts with a conversation between Mary and her husband Ned and cousin Alida about what was to become their house (Lyng), and the ghost related to it. Lyng’s ghost is a special type and people who come across it don’t realize it was a ghost until long after. Ned has recently made his fortune through what we understand could have been a dishonest manner. I won’t give away or the structure, but this is a cleverly structured story built on that initial (hazy) description of the Lyng ghost. Basically a revenge story that sneaks up on you.
*The Thingummyjig (Mary Williams):
A story with a fresh take on a child’s invisible friend. Clarissa grows up in a house with older family members she fears and things are very bleak until she befriends a creature only she’s able to see, the Thingummyjig. Her scary grandfather with a mean streak passes away under suspicious circumstances and she is to be sent away to school. She brutally cuts the Thingummyjig out of her life. Years afterwards her aunt passes away and Clarissa again finds herself in the childhood home and lonely. Hoping to make up for how she treated her friend she calls upon the Thingummyjig. The creature might not be so willing to let bygones be bygones.
*The House of Shadows (Mary Elizabeth Counselman):
This one reminded me of stories I were told as a child and as such I found it oddly comforting.
-Liz steps off the train to stretch her legs after a long trip but is left behind. Thankfully she remembers that a former roommate from college lives here and decides to ask if she can spend the night until the next train in spite of the station master’s apparent worry. What follows is a lovely evening with her friend and family, although something seems just a bit off.
Rosalind (Richmal Crompton):
Rosalind is a young woman and is seduced by Heath, a rich man. They’re initially happy until she falls pregnant and he starts seeing this differently (namely that he doesn’t want to marry her but rather someone of the same class as him). He ditches her and gets engaged to someone more to his family’s liking. Both Rosalind and the baby dies, but there won’t be a happy marriage waiting for Heath.
*Redundant (Dorothy K. Haynes):
Poor Hamish spent his life being made redundant and never able to hold a job long enough to gain benefits. He’s not too sad when he dies and becomes ‘The Watcher of the Dead’ (or at least until the next person dies). He’s finally found a job he does well, but it seems death imitates life in this story. Maybe a bit macabre, but I found the story to be quite funny and oddly charming.
*The Dream of Fair Women (A.L. Barker):
Selwyn is a scoundrel and hiding from his latest conquest (from whom he stole both money, alcohol and even her bath oil) at a hostelry. The hostelry’s owner is an ex-commando who supposedly killed a man he thought had an affair with his wife, and is probably not the type of man you’d want to mess with. -Selwyn being the kind of person who gets into trouble where women are concerned still plans to seduce the hostel owner’s wife. There is a ghost story neatly weaved into this, and Selwyn is in for a brutal lesson.
The Chauffeur (Rosemary Pardoe):
A harmless and ultimately flat story about a haunting by friendly ghost in the form of a chauffeur who for some reason hasn’t haunted them for a year. We find out why the banal reason for this is (weeds).
*The Traitor (Joan Aiken):
A librarian finds herself without a job but luckily snags one as a live-in companion and reader for an older lady (Mrs.Crankshaw). Chance has it that Mrs.Crankshaw’s late brother was the judge that sentenced the main character’s father to jail for treason (where he passed away a few years later). It also turns out that the place they will be living together is where she grew up with her mum after her father went to jail. Their new home is composed of what use to be 3 houses: Her late mum’s and the houses of two elderly couples they befriended when they first moved there and who became family. She’s too afraid to mention these links to the kind Mrs. Crankshaw for fear that it will ruin their friendship. What follows is a tender and sad story that jumps between her childhood with these special people and her current situation with Crankshaw. Things become interesting as Mrs.Crankshaw seems to be able to hear, see and at times interact with the former inhabitants (the sweet older couples who helped raise the main character) whilst she herself can’t. She believes this to be because the ghosts are unhappy with her not having told Crankshaw about her past and link to them and this place.
*The Landlady (Elinor Mordaunt): A sweet story about an expecting newlywed couple who are being haunted by a ghostly and cheeky older lady. This story differs from the others in that it is a living ghost. Has a bittersweet ending and was a great end to this read.
*The July Ghost (A.S. Byatt):
A man tells an American woman he has just met about his experience of seeing the ghost of his landlady’s son in the garden and the reason for the boy’s appearances.
With and Without Buttons (Mary Butts):
2 sisters play a prank on their male neighbor by planting the suggestion that something is off with the house due to the former resident(s), specifically a woman who was nice about her hands. To build on this, they then plan to drop kid gloves (both with and without buttons) for him to find. Things take a sinister turn when the glove-prank seems to start on its own accord before they’ve even managed to drop the first glove and furthermore, the gloves start to appear in their part of the house.
*Don’t Tell Cissie (Celia Fremlin):
Rosemary and Lois are long-time friends who decide to go ghost hunting in Rosemary’s cabin. The cabin is supposedly haunted by a woman who drowned herself in the nearby marsh. As they prepare to leave there is one important thing on their mind: Don’t let Cissie know about the trip. Cissie is a friend (or more like someone who hovers around them) who insists on coming along for everything although she always inadvertently ruins things.
I actually quite enjoyed this story and found the friendship dynamic similar to what I remember from high school (never mind the fact that the characters are close to retirement age). The story mixes the funny with the tragic and comes with an ending that would make me think twice about revisiting the cabin.
*The Book (Margaret Irwin):
A tale of the possession of a father after he finds an ancient book on the 2nd shelf. Quite short and surprisingly spooky (at least for those of us who enjoy reading as the first sign of something not being right is the people living in the house finding themselves actively disliking books they’d otherwise enjoy).
*The Grey Men (Rebecca West):
The main character is in a nursing home because of blood poisoning when she has the strangest fever dream of a limo, beings in grey with aviators’ helmets standing sentinels and abducting another inhabitant. Was it really all a dream though? Impressive existential horror for its short 5 pages.
The Pool (Daphne du Maurier):
DdM is one of these authors I’ve been meaning to read but not gotten around to, so I’m quite happy this short was included in the anthology. This is ultimately the coming of age story (and the disappointment that can follow) of the main character Deborah. Deborah and her little brother are spending a scorching summer at their grandparents and she tries to sneak of to a pool in the woods as often as possible. This pool attracts other apparitions as well, and Deborah longs to join what she comes to see as a secret world. The story didn’t really do it for me like the other ones, and ended up being a bit of a let down although I’m not ready to give up on DdM just yet.
The Station Road (Ann Bridge):
A wife is on her way to pick up a visitor coming in by train. As she makes her way over she sees apparitions eerily similar to the man she is meeting. A very classic ghost story.
*Black Dog (Penelope Lively):
Brenda is a housewife and being haunted by a black dog only she is able to see in the garden and on the porch. Her family thinks she is loosing it, but is she though? I quite enjoyed this story and felt it echoed Poe nicely. I saw someone interpret the dog as menopause/aging and the story does leave room for many points of views. What I took away from it was Brenda taking control of the dog meant her gaining back the control of her own life.
*No.17 (E. Nesbit):
A classic “people listening to someone tell a ghost story”-tale. Room 17 is not a place you’d want to stay as several men have been found with their throats cut. Very short but surprisingly funny story.
Prelude (Pamela Sewell):
Elaine gifts her 6 year old daughter Lori a piano. Her late husband was a talented musician but complicated man who passed away just before Lori was born. The gift is very well received but Elaine soon starts hearing someone playing the piano late at night and doesn’t like the personality changes her daughter seem to go through.
*The Pestering (D.K. Broster):
One of the longest stories in this anthology. It’s a classic “couple buys new place to live, finds that it is haunted” by an apparition showing up at the door begging to be let in to find a chest. The ghost keeps bothering them and the wife, at one point thinking it to be the hubby, tells it to go in. So begins the haunting inside and a desperate search to find the chest to rid themselves of the bothersome ghost. I quite enjoyed this.
I Used to Live Here Once (Jean Rhys):
Somehow Rhys managed to write a coherent and melancholic ghost story spanning less than 1,5 pages about a woman making her way to her former home noting all the changes done to the area as she walks; unaware that the biggest change is the one that has happened to her.
*A Spirit Elopement (Clotilde Graves):
A ghostly love story of sorts. A newly married woman is annoyed and jealous to find a female apparition haunting her husband and decides to play tit for tat by calling on the ghost of a man.
*Whittington’s Cat (Eleanor Smith):
A young aspiring author plans to write a book about pantomime and goes to the local one every night. One evening whilst there he finds himself overtaken by a pantomime cat who persuades him to take it home. The cat controls his house, life and will until his friends intervene. Surprisingly enjoyable read and I won’t be looking at pantomime the same way again.
The Haunting of Shawley Rectory (Ruth Rendell):
A haunted rectory, several (but not all) families that have lived there have reported ghostly activities. Some have not lasted long. The main character and his friend spend a night there hoping to witness supernatural activities but are left disappointed. Things take a dark turn (I didn’t see coming) when a woman with a teenaged daughter buys and fixes up the rectory.
Mare Amore (Margery Lawrence):
A wife has forced her sailor husband to leave the sea for good, but it is doubtful that the spirit of the sea is willing to let him go without a fight.
Who’s Been Sitting In My Car (Antonia Fraser):
If there’s one thing this short and King’s Christine has taught me it would be that used cars are a bad idea. Jacobine got a used car suspiciously cheap and soon starts finding cigarette butts in the car. She doesn’t smoke and no one else has keys to it. Sadly, this is only the beginning.
*The Ghosts of Calagou (Elizabeth Fancett):
Gold miner Regis is the last survivor of an initial party of 4. He wanted to stop the search earlier as he thought they had found enough and the weather would soon be too hot, their supplies run out and the animals die. He wasn’t wrong but was forcibly kept there by the others who eventually all died. He makes his way back to town, exhausted and either delirious or haunted by his former partners who are angry that he made it out with the gold alive. Things don’t end well for poor Regus.
Afterward (Edith Wharton):
The story starts with a conversation between Mary and her husband Ned and cousin Alida about what was to become their house (Lyng), and the ghost related to it. Lyng’s ghost is a special type and people who come across it don’t realize it was a ghost until long after. Ned has recently made his fortune through what we understand could have been a dishonest manner. I won’t give away or the structure, but this is a cleverly structured story built on that initial (hazy) description of the Lyng ghost. Basically a revenge story that sneaks up on you.
*The Thingummyjig (Mary Williams):
A story with a fresh take on a child’s invisible friend. Clarissa grows up in a house with older family members she fears and things are very bleak until she befriends a creature only she’s able to see, the Thingummyjig. Her scary grandfather with a mean streak passes away under suspicious circumstances and she is to be sent away to school. She brutally cuts the Thingummyjig out of her life. Years afterwards her aunt passes away and Clarissa again finds herself in the childhood home and lonely. Hoping to make up for how she treated her friend she calls upon the Thingummyjig. The creature might not be so willing to let bygones be bygones.
*The House of Shadows (Mary Elizabeth Counselman):
This one reminded me of stories I were told as a child and as such I found it oddly comforting.
-Liz steps off the train to stretch her legs after a long trip but is left behind. Thankfully she remembers that a former roommate from college lives here and decides to ask if she can spend the night until the next train in spite of the station master’s apparent worry. What follows is a lovely evening with her friend and family, although something seems just a bit off.
Rosalind (Richmal Crompton):
Rosalind is a young woman and is seduced by Heath, a rich man. They’re initially happy until she falls pregnant and he starts seeing this differently (namely that he doesn’t want to marry her but rather someone of the same class as him). He ditches her and gets engaged to someone more to his family’s liking. Both Rosalind and the baby dies, but there won’t be a happy marriage waiting for Heath.
*Redundant (Dorothy K. Haynes):
Poor Hamish spent his life being made redundant and never able to hold a job long enough to gain benefits. He’s not too sad when he dies and becomes ‘The Watcher of the Dead’ (or at least until the next person dies). He’s finally found a job he does well, but it seems death imitates life in this story. Maybe a bit macabre, but I found the story to be quite funny and oddly charming.
*The Dream of Fair Women (A.L. Barker):
Selwyn is a scoundrel and hiding from his latest conquest (from whom he stole both money, alcohol and even her bath oil) at a hostelry. The hostelry’s owner is an ex-commando who supposedly killed a man he thought had an affair with his wife, and is probably not the type of man you’d want to mess with. -Selwyn being the kind of person who gets into trouble where women are concerned still plans to seduce the hostel owner’s wife. There is a ghost story neatly weaved into this, and Selwyn is in for a brutal lesson.
The Chauffeur (Rosemary Pardoe):
A harmless and ultimately flat story about a haunting by friendly ghost in the form of a chauffeur who for some reason hasn’t haunted them for a year. We find out why the banal reason for this is (weeds).
*The Traitor (Joan Aiken):
A librarian finds herself without a job but luckily snags one as a live-in companion and reader for an older lady (Mrs.Crankshaw). Chance has it that Mrs.Crankshaw’s late brother was the judge that sentenced the main character’s father to jail for treason (where he passed away a few years later). It also turns out that the place they will be living together is where she grew up with her mum after her father went to jail. Their new home is composed of what use to be 3 houses: Her late mum’s and the houses of two elderly couples they befriended when they first moved there and who became family. She’s too afraid to mention these links to the kind Mrs. Crankshaw for fear that it will ruin their friendship. What follows is a tender and sad story that jumps between her childhood with these special people and her current situation with Crankshaw. Things become interesting as Mrs.Crankshaw seems to be able to hear, see and at times interact with the former inhabitants (the sweet older couples who helped raise the main character) whilst she herself can’t. She believes this to be because the ghosts are unhappy with her not having told Crankshaw about her past and link to them and this place.
*The Landlady (Elinor Mordaunt): A sweet story about an expecting newlywed couple who are being haunted by a ghostly and cheeky older lady. This story differs from the others in that it is a living ghost. Has a bittersweet ending and was a great end to this read.
December 27, 2009
I have read a lot of ghost story anthologies so imagine my surprise in finding one with 'new' ghost stories that are not only very readable but also a very good scare.
I hold ghost stories to the Oxford anthologies as a yard stick and this little book is right up there with the best.
All of the authors are women and a very eclectic group they are.We have Edith Wharton to Ruth Rendell.
I don't have a favorite story because all of them were wonderful.
The following are the author's:AS Bryant,Mary Butts,Celia Fremlin,Margaret Irwin,Rebecca West,Daphne du Maurier,Ann bridge,Penelope Lively,E. nesbit,Pamela Sewell,D.K.Broster,Jean rhys,Clotilde Graves,Ruth Rendell,Margery Lawrence,Antonia Fraser,Elizabeth Fancett,Edith Wharton,Mary Williams,M.E. Counselman,Richmal Croptom,Dorothy K. Haynes,A.L. Barker,Rosemary Pardoe,Joan Aiken,Elinor Mordaunt.
These women know how to tell a creepy story about everything from motherhood to the male idle rich.One thing I like about ghost stories is that 'usually' the bad are punished and there is a somewhat happy ending.While not all the endings are happy the bad do get their just desserts over and over again.While the punishment of the bad can get boring and redundant if not handled with literary style this book has that style and is not ever one to dissapoint.
I hold ghost stories to the Oxford anthologies as a yard stick and this little book is right up there with the best.
All of the authors are women and a very eclectic group they are.We have Edith Wharton to Ruth Rendell.
I don't have a favorite story because all of them were wonderful.
The following are the author's:AS Bryant,Mary Butts,Celia Fremlin,Margaret Irwin,Rebecca West,Daphne du Maurier,Ann bridge,Penelope Lively,E. nesbit,Pamela Sewell,D.K.Broster,Jean rhys,Clotilde Graves,Ruth Rendell,Margery Lawrence,Antonia Fraser,Elizabeth Fancett,Edith Wharton,Mary Williams,M.E. Counselman,Richmal Croptom,Dorothy K. Haynes,A.L. Barker,Rosemary Pardoe,Joan Aiken,Elinor Mordaunt.
These women know how to tell a creepy story about everything from motherhood to the male idle rich.One thing I like about ghost stories is that 'usually' the bad are punished and there is a somewhat happy ending.While not all the endings are happy the bad do get their just desserts over and over again.While the punishment of the bad can get boring and redundant if not handled with literary style this book has that style and is not ever one to dissapoint.
August 27, 2025
Some really good stories here, some not so. Easy reading, however. May update favourites from the selection in due course.
Want to read
December 16, 2023Read so far:
*The eyes / Edith Wharton --
*The violet car / E. Nesbit --
The crimson blind / H. D. Everett --
*The token / May Sinclair --
The shadowy third / Ellen Glasgow --3
The return / Marjory E. Lambe (G.G. Trenery) --
The haunted saucepan / Margery Lawrence --
Mr Tallent's ghost / Mary Webb--2
The amorous ghost / Enid Bagnold --2
The accident and a persistent woman / Marjorie Bowen --2
The waiting-room / Phyllis Bottome --2
The ghost / Catherine Wells --
'Will ye no' come back again?' / Eleanor Scott
Sophy Mason comes back / E.M. Delafield --3
The doll's house / Hester Gorst --
The night nurse's story / Edith Olivier --
The voice of God / Winifred Holtby --3
The follower / Cynthia Asquith --3
Miss de Mannering of Asham / F.M. Mayor --
Roaring tower / Stella Gibbons --
Juggernaut / D.K. Broster --
The happy autumn fields / Elizabeth Bowen --1
The empty schoolroom / Pamela Hansford Johnson --3
Three miles up / Elizabeth Jane Howard --
Whitewash / Rose Macaulay --3
Poor girl / Elizabeth Taylor--3
On no account, my love / Elizabeth Jenkins--
The mistress in black / Rosemary Timperley --
A curious experience / Norah Lofts --
*Breakages / Fay Weldon --
Dual control / Elizabeth Walter --
Lady with unicorn / Sara Maitland --
Diamond Jim / Lisa St Aubin de Terán --
Ashputtle / Angela Carter--2
*The eyes / Edith Wharton --
*The violet car / E. Nesbit --
The crimson blind / H. D. Everett --
*The token / May Sinclair --
The shadowy third / Ellen Glasgow --3
The return / Marjory E. Lambe (G.G. Trenery) --
The haunted saucepan / Margery Lawrence --
Mr Tallent's ghost / Mary Webb--2
The amorous ghost / Enid Bagnold --2
The accident and a persistent woman / Marjorie Bowen --2
The waiting-room / Phyllis Bottome --2
The ghost / Catherine Wells --
'Will ye no' come back again?' / Eleanor Scott
Sophy Mason comes back / E.M. Delafield --3
The doll's house / Hester Gorst --
The night nurse's story / Edith Olivier --
The voice of God / Winifred Holtby --3
The follower / Cynthia Asquith --3
Miss de Mannering of Asham / F.M. Mayor --
Roaring tower / Stella Gibbons --
Juggernaut / D.K. Broster --
The happy autumn fields / Elizabeth Bowen --1
The empty schoolroom / Pamela Hansford Johnson --3
Three miles up / Elizabeth Jane Howard --
Whitewash / Rose Macaulay --3
Poor girl / Elizabeth Taylor--3
On no account, my love / Elizabeth Jenkins--
The mistress in black / Rosemary Timperley --
A curious experience / Norah Lofts --
*Breakages / Fay Weldon --
Dual control / Elizabeth Walter --
Lady with unicorn / Sara Maitland --
Diamond Jim / Lisa St Aubin de Terán --
Ashputtle / Angela Carter--2
November 11, 2008
A fine collection of ghost stories by women writers, covering the whole of the 20th century and including a lot of stories I'd never encountered before.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews