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The Ghost Stories of Muriel Spark
Eight spooky stories from the mistress of the unexpected. I aim to startle as well as please," Muriel Spark has said, and in these eight marvelous ghost stories she manages to do both to the highest degree. As with all matters in the hands of Dame Muriel her spooks are entirely original. A ghost in her pantheon can be plaintive or a bit vengeful, or perhaps may not even be aware of being a ghost at all. One in fact is the ghost of a man who isn't even dead yet. Another takes the bus home from work, believing she is still alive, though she is haunted by an odious tune stuck in her head (which her murderer had been relentlessly humming), and distressed by a "feeling of incompletion." And a reflective ghost recalls her mortal days of enjoying "the glory of the world, as if it would never pass. Spark has a flair for confiding "I must explain that I departed this life nearly five years ago. But I did not altogether depart this world. There were those odd things still to be done which one's executors can never do properly." In her case the odd things include cheerily hailing her murderer, "Hallo George!" and driving him mad. The remarkably nonchalant stories here include some of her most wicked and famous"The Seraph and the Zambesi," "The Hanging Judge," and "The Portobello Road"and they all gleam with that special Spark sheen, the quality The Times Literary Supplement has hailed as "gloriously witty and polished."
136 pages, Paperback
First published January 21, 2003
13 people are currently reading
950 people want to read
About the author
Muriel Spark
226 books1,299 followersDame Muriel Spark, DBE was a prolific Scottish novelist, short story writer and poet whose darkly comedic voice made her one of the most distinctive writers of the twentieth century. In 2008 The Times newspaper named Spark in its list of "the 50 greatest British writers since 1945".
Spark received the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1965 for The Mandelbaum Gate, the Ingersoll Foundation TS Eliot Award in 1992 and the David Cohen Prize in 1997. She became Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1993, in recognition of her services to literature. She has been twice shortlisted for the Booker Prize, in 1969 for The Public Image and in 1981 for Loitering with Intent. In 1998, she was awarded the Golden PEN Award by English PEN for "a Lifetime's Distinguished Service to Literature". In 2010, Spark was shortlisted for the Lost Man Booker Prize of 1970 for The Driver's Seat.
Spark received eight honorary doctorates in her lifetime. These included a Doctor of the University degree (Honoris causa) from her alma mater, Heriot-Watt University in 1995; a Doctor of Humane Letters (Honoris causa) from the American University of Paris in 2005; and Honorary Doctor of Letters degrees from the Universities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh, London, Oxford, St Andrews and Strathclyde.
Spark grew up in Edinburgh and worked as a department store secretary, writer for trade magazines, and literary editor before publishing her first novel, The Comforters, in 1957. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, published in 1961, and considered her masterpiece, was made into a stage play, a TV series, and a film.
Spark received the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1965 for The Mandelbaum Gate, the Ingersoll Foundation TS Eliot Award in 1992 and the David Cohen Prize in 1997. She became Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1993, in recognition of her services to literature. She has been twice shortlisted for the Booker Prize, in 1969 for The Public Image and in 1981 for Loitering with Intent. In 1998, she was awarded the Golden PEN Award by English PEN for "a Lifetime's Distinguished Service to Literature". In 2010, Spark was shortlisted for the Lost Man Booker Prize of 1970 for The Driver's Seat.
Spark received eight honorary doctorates in her lifetime. These included a Doctor of the University degree (Honoris causa) from her alma mater, Heriot-Watt University in 1995; a Doctor of Humane Letters (Honoris causa) from the American University of Paris in 2005; and Honorary Doctor of Letters degrees from the Universities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh, London, Oxford, St Andrews and Strathclyde.
Spark grew up in Edinburgh and worked as a department store secretary, writer for trade magazines, and literary editor before publishing her first novel, The Comforters, in 1957. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, published in 1961, and considered her masterpiece, was made into a stage play, a TV series, and a film.
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August 26, 2019I was talking to someone about ghost stories when I realized, "Hey, I love ghost stories." Plus I'm a huge fan of Muriel Spark. These stories are short and creepy.
February 18, 2018
This hard-to-get-hold-of New Directions paperback contains eight short stories. I had read two of these – 'The Girl I Left Behind Me' and 'The Leaf-Sweeper' – in anthologies, and found both intriguing but flawed: the former gives away its whole plot in the title, and the latter hinges on an underdeveloped concept. I was interested to explore more of Spark's ghost stories. It turns out I actually find them kind of exhausting, and reading one after another only served to highlight their most offputting features.
'The House of the Famous Poet', for instance, is a bizarre story that initially appears to be quite straightforward and then takes a sharp turn for the surreal. I should have loved it, but it felt to me like a clever idea for the sake of a clever idea, something that appears meaningful but isn't constructed with enough depth to actually be meaningful. Others, like 'The Portobello Road', are saddled with irritating characters and choppy narratives. While discomfort is surely the goal, I just couldn't get on with them. The exception, and my favourite from the collection, is the really rather shocking 'The Hanging Judge'.
Nothing here matches the darkness and power of Spark's novella The Driver's Seat. Diverting, but certainly not the author's best work, and these are the type of short stories better enjoyed at intervals than read in quick succession.
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'The House of the Famous Poet', for instance, is a bizarre story that initially appears to be quite straightforward and then takes a sharp turn for the surreal. I should have loved it, but it felt to me like a clever idea for the sake of a clever idea, something that appears meaningful but isn't constructed with enough depth to actually be meaningful. Others, like 'The Portobello Road', are saddled with irritating characters and choppy narratives. While discomfort is surely the goal, I just couldn't get on with them. The exception, and my favourite from the collection, is the really rather shocking 'The Hanging Judge'.
Nothing here matches the darkness and power of Spark's novella The Driver's Seat. Diverting, but certainly not the author's best work, and these are the type of short stories better enjoyed at intervals than read in quick succession.
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September 17, 2021
Muriel Spark's The Driver's Seat was a book that hit me like a mack truck. Who is this writer and why had I never come across her before?!? So when I saw that she had a small collection of ghost stories, I immediately snapped it up (and then proceeded to let it sit on my shelf for years—classic).
Like most short story collections, there is some hit or miss here. Two of the stories are very powerful—excellent and surprising. One story is a pretty uncomfortable read with its blatant racism. Another started out strong and kept me intrigued with some surreal components, but got bogged down and seemed not to go anywhere. You definitely get a feel for Spark's truly unusual style, and I was reminded of Shirley Jackson's short stories, as Spark also has the talent of mixing scary with comedy. Just a true mastery of tone that you don't often find with modern writers.
Though I can't say that this book matches the raw power and surreal, manic darkness of The Driver's Seat (really, I can't recommend that book enough), it was interesting to see Spark's weird take on ghost stories.
I look forward to devouring more of Spark's unusual work!
Like most short story collections, there is some hit or miss here. Two of the stories are very powerful—excellent and surprising. One story is a pretty uncomfortable read with its blatant racism. Another started out strong and kept me intrigued with some surreal components, but got bogged down and seemed not to go anywhere. You definitely get a feel for Spark's truly unusual style, and I was reminded of Shirley Jackson's short stories, as Spark also has the talent of mixing scary with comedy. Just a true mastery of tone that you don't often find with modern writers.
Though I can't say that this book matches the raw power and surreal, manic darkness of The Driver's Seat (really, I can't recommend that book enough), it was interesting to see Spark's weird take on ghost stories.
I look forward to devouring more of Spark's unusual work!
January 5, 2021
Eight weird little stories by a writer known to be oftimes weird.
Do not expect your traditional ghost story. Do expect any one of the characters you're reading about to be already dead. Except for the very first story, which set the trend for the other seven, none of this much surprised me. Perhaps if I'd read them as they first came out, in magazines, etc., and over a longer period of time they would have entranced me, but umm...
Blatant racism in one, but then I think, it's the time it was written in AND it's the characters who are racist, not necessarily the writer. Okay, I'll buy it, but the story was all over the place. Obtuse or confused narrative does not replace a good old creepy omgosh kind of ghost story, IMO.
Seriously, I can't even be bothered writing a brief summation of each. They're ghost stories. They're weird. There's dead people in them.
Three stars. That's enough.
Do not expect your traditional ghost story. Do expect any one of the characters you're reading about to be already dead. Except for the very first story, which set the trend for the other seven, none of this much surprised me. Perhaps if I'd read them as they first came out, in magazines, etc., and over a longer period of time they would have entranced me, but umm...
Blatant racism in one, but then I think, it's the time it was written in AND it's the characters who are racist, not necessarily the writer. Okay, I'll buy it, but the story was all over the place. Obtuse or confused narrative does not replace a good old creepy omgosh kind of ghost story, IMO.
Seriously, I can't even be bothered writing a brief summation of each. They're ghost stories. They're weird. There's dead people in them.
Three stars. That's enough.
September 25, 2021
perhaps you don’t know how repulsive and loathsome is the ghost of a living man. The ghosts of the dead may be all right, but the ghost of mad Johnnie gave me the creeps.
July 2, 2017
Anyone who grew up watching The Twilight Zone or remembers some of the spookier episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents will be onto the twist ending of “The Girl I Left Behind Me” within the first few pages. I was disappointed with this opening tale and thought that perhaps ghost stories were simply not Spark’s métier. But two pages into the second story, Sir Sullivan Stanley, a distinguished, elderly judge, hears the guilty verdict announced in the capital murder case he is hearing and experiences a spontaneous orgasm. We are in capable hands after all.
Muriel Spark has said of her writing, “I aim to startle and to please.” In these eight ghostly tales she does just that. The settings include London during the blitz, a white enclave in Africa, and the Portobello Road. Her ghosts may be mournful or mischievous, and they intrude into the lives of the living in sometimes subtle but always unsettling ways. These polished tales hark back to a time when novelists like Edith Wharton, Henry James, and E. F. Benson turned on occasion and with great effects to the supernatural. Set them aside for a dreary winter day.
Muriel Spark has said of her writing, “I aim to startle and to please.” In these eight ghostly tales she does just that. The settings include London during the blitz, a white enclave in Africa, and the Portobello Road. Her ghosts may be mournful or mischievous, and they intrude into the lives of the living in sometimes subtle but always unsettling ways. These polished tales hark back to a time when novelists like Edith Wharton, Henry James, and E. F. Benson turned on occasion and with great effects to the supernatural. Set them aside for a dreary winter day.
March 15, 2023
Though Spark is much more well-known for her novels, she published over 40 short stories during her career, and actually came to fame with one in 1951, The Seraph and the Zambesi , which won the Observer’s Christmas story competition.
In a 2003 interview she said..
In these stories Spark’s ghosts may not be as scary as other more recognised writers in the genre, but they provide her with a freedom to explore more diverse concerns than she would do usually.
It is evident also in reading the stories that the author has a faith. Spark converted to Catholicism in 1954.
In The Executor we encounter a moralising ghost. Such an apparition is hardly likely to terrify.
A woman named Susan becomes executor to her uncle’s literary estate. She sells all of his correspondence and manuscripts to a foundation but holds back one valuable piece, an unfinished novel. The book is about a witch who is ensnared and forced to await her execution. It is missing only the last chapter, which Susan decides to write herself in order to raise its price. She receives ghostly notes from her uncle, mocking her for various indiscretions, and for being unable to finish the chapter. But in the end, the niece’s plan fails, and the ghost’s coup from the grave, is denied.
A couple of the stories here, for example The House of the Famous Poet would be classed as weird, as they don’t toe the line of the ghost story format. It is one of the best in the book, and unlike the others, scary.
Another of the best, The Portobello Road is more like a Spark novel, with humour and great characters, the very opposite of scary.
It is a story of story of four friends; Kathleen, George, Skinny and Needle. When a child, Needle found a needle in a haystack. She is considered ‘lucky’ by the others, although haystacks are associated with injury and death for her personally. The needle she happens upon in the story’s first haystack drives deep into her thumb and creates a wound from which she bleeds profusely. Needle is suffocated with hay and her body buried in a second haystack. Needle returns as a ghost to haunt and punish her murderer, George, who is something of a ridiculous figure, aspiring and falling short of machismo.
As often in Spark’s work, there is something of herself in Needle’s character.
In a 2003 interview she said..
Yes, I do believe in ghosts. But not in the sense that one could possibly describe it. Ghosts exist and we are haunted, whether we like it or not, in the sense that it can only be expressed by a physical presence, or a ghost, but in fact, I do believe in the presence of something that you can call a ghost but not in the physical outline. I don’t see any other way in which you can express this actuality, and I can’t deny this actuality simply because there is no other way to express it..
In these stories Spark’s ghosts may not be as scary as other more recognised writers in the genre, but they provide her with a freedom to explore more diverse concerns than she would do usually.
It is evident also in reading the stories that the author has a faith. Spark converted to Catholicism in 1954.
In The Executor we encounter a moralising ghost. Such an apparition is hardly likely to terrify.
A woman named Susan becomes executor to her uncle’s literary estate. She sells all of his correspondence and manuscripts to a foundation but holds back one valuable piece, an unfinished novel. The book is about a witch who is ensnared and forced to await her execution. It is missing only the last chapter, which Susan decides to write herself in order to raise its price. She receives ghostly notes from her uncle, mocking her for various indiscretions, and for being unable to finish the chapter. But in the end, the niece’s plan fails, and the ghost’s coup from the grave, is denied.
A couple of the stories here, for example The House of the Famous Poet would be classed as weird, as they don’t toe the line of the ghost story format. It is one of the best in the book, and unlike the others, scary.
Another of the best, The Portobello Road is more like a Spark novel, with humour and great characters, the very opposite of scary.
It is a story of story of four friends; Kathleen, George, Skinny and Needle. When a child, Needle found a needle in a haystack. She is considered ‘lucky’ by the others, although haystacks are associated with injury and death for her personally. The needle she happens upon in the story’s first haystack drives deep into her thumb and creates a wound from which she bleeds profusely. Needle is suffocated with hay and her body buried in a second haystack. Needle returns as a ghost to haunt and punish her murderer, George, who is something of a ridiculous figure, aspiring and falling short of machismo.
As often in Spark’s work, there is something of herself in Needle’s character.
November 12, 2009
Eight of Muriel Spark's stories, all with ghosts. The first four are all very good, (The Girl I Left Behind Me, The Hanging Judge, The Seraph and the Zambesi, The Leaf-Sweeper) but the last four are even better. (The House of the Famous Poet, Another Pair of Hands, The Executor, The Portobello Road)
Spark has a way of hooking you from the first sentence. After only a few lines the story is set up, characters fully formed, and you as a reader are completely invested in the outcome. This is no small task, especially in short stories where it is of vital importance, and Spark does it so effortlessly, with wit and casual elegance.
If you only read one, read The Portobello Road, but please stick around for the others. You won't regret it.
Spark has a way of hooking you from the first sentence. After only a few lines the story is set up, characters fully formed, and you as a reader are completely invested in the outcome. This is no small task, especially in short stories where it is of vital importance, and Spark does it so effortlessly, with wit and casual elegance.
If you only read one, read The Portobello Road, but please stick around for the others. You won't regret it.
September 19, 2021
First time reading Spark. Strange. The super sparse, cold, external style was hard to get a handle on, but I warmed to it eventually. But again, strange. The ghosts here are far from traditional, playing unexpected and unfamiliar roles for the genre. The mix of mundanity and weirdness brought Shirley Jackson to mind though I fear this is a hacky comparison. Generally enjoyed the collection, though The Hanging Judge was my favorite by far.
January 14, 2016
‘The Ghost Stories of Muriel Spark’ is a slightly misleading title. The stories contained in this book are not ghost stories in the (M. R.) Jamesian sense; they do not (apart from one) feature vengeful revenants destroying the equanimity of an otherwise ordered world, and some do not contain ghosts at all. What these tales do have in common is a supernatural element that just seems to be an organic development of the plot, but that’s about as far as it goes. This is an entertaining and varied collection of stories, with some wonderful lines of classic Spark: ‘it was my ambition to write about life, which I first had to see’, or this bravura opening sentence of The Portobello Road: ‘One day in my young youth at high summer, lolling with my lovely companions upon a haystack, I found a needle’. Odd, unexpected, sharp: the stories in this collection may not show Spark at her absolute best, but were a very satisfying way to spend a couple of days of my reading life.
December 8, 2020
Muriel Spark was my favorite 20th century author and given the competition that's saying something. Always brilliant, almost always dark and funny, there were few writers who were her intellectual equal. She did lack emotional resonance; nevertheless almost anything she wrote can be recommended. These ghost stories are a delight.
August 16, 2016
1st and last story - my favourite.
June 9, 2022
I'm not sure what to make of this! I...don't think this was assembled by the author, so any expectation of cohesion is pretty futile, but I was surprised how different these are. The first story is possibly the most like what I expected a ghost story to be, and was fairly easy to follow, and I found it absolutely delightful... but it did set me up with somewhat false expectations for the rest. It's not that I was disappointed that they were different from what I expected; they were just very challenging and I honestly have to say I didn't really understand most of them, which doesn't happen to me all too often, heh. Still an interesting experience! I've been trying to see what meaning other people find in the stories, but unfortunately many of them aren't talked about very much. I guess they'll have to stay a mystery!
March 28, 2020
Suspend disbelief, forget you're sophisticated, and come to the stories with fresh eyes, and you will be delighted. The timing is perfect and the pacing can teach you, if you're a writer, how to set up a shock. The other day I was listening to music and heard Phil Collins performing "Something in the air tonight," and I realized that Spark's writing reminded me, somehow, of Collins drumming. We've all heard a steady backbeat, but if you pay attention, the cadence of the beat is just a little better than most. So, maybe these ghost tales didn't send tingles down my spine, but they still moved me with their beauty.
November 1, 2021
I enjoyed all the stories in this collection. Some could be called “spirit”stories, not ghost stories in the traditional sense. They are contemporary and have no wispy moaning Victorian ladies floating in castles or spirits menacing children. Like all Spark’s writing, it is a well crafted book. There is often humor, though on the dark side. My favorite story was Portobello Road, the longest and most developed story in the book. Another excellent story is The Seraph and the Zambezi, which uses an African setting familiar to Spark from her early adulthood in Africa.
I gave the book a 4 because I prefer her longer novellas or novels, but her writing is brilliant as usual.
I gave the book a 4 because I prefer her longer novellas or novels, but her writing is brilliant as usual.
December 2, 2020
These are mostly fine little ghostly, and some ghastly, little numbers. I was struggling through a few of them (see "The Seraph and the Zambesi), but all collections have the filler that brings it down. The albatross stories, heavy and burdensome. Others were fairly surprising like the perverted "Hanging Judge" and the Ray Bradbury-esque "The Leaf-Sweeper. Some of them are very corny but nice in that Muriel Spark way, so I didn't mind. If you only have time for one book by her, this shouldn't be it, is my final word on it.
Grade: C
Grade: C
August 22, 2019
Now that the mornings feel like fall, it's time for some ghost stories. These aren't Stephen King ghost stories, they're much more subtle with great writing that you need to pay attention to (blink and you miss it). I enjoyed especially "The Portobello Road," "Another Pair of Hands" and "The Girl I Left Behind Me."
October 22, 2020
This was OK. It was my first crack at Muriel Spark, and I would read more by her as the writing itself was engaging, witty, and fun to read. I didn't find the plots of the stories in this collection overall to be particularly strong, however the first and last stories packed strong punches!
February 28, 2021
Marvelous collection of short stories from a great writer. All of them eerie and extremely entertaining. I've only read one of her novels, "A Far Cry From Kensington" but this year I will set about reading them all.
November 7, 2023
I have never had any interest in ghost stories, but I do like Muriel Spark a hell of a lot, so exceptions can be made. Despite enjoying most of these, I won't suddenly be making a habit out of reading spooky tales though.
October 6, 2025
Not Traditional
These are interesting but NOT traditional ghost stories. Each story is quite short so the book is a fast read. I love Spark's writing but probably won't reread this book.
These are interesting but NOT traditional ghost stories. Each story is quite short so the book is a fast read. I love Spark's writing but probably won't reread this book.
June 8, 2017
Not at all what you imagine ghost stories to be.
October 26, 2017
Obviously I love the collection because I love Spark. Not spooky, but still ghostly.
August 14, 2019
Enjoyable. I especially like the way that she assembles her narrative. So often, major plot points are mentioned almost in passing during a discussion of the events of the day. Just wonderful.
September 4, 2019
Short and entertaining, good for a light vacation read. Some of the stories were excellent, most were only fine.
January 16, 2020
I read a few of these and they were fine. DNF. Pesky library always wants stuff back and it wasn't a gripping read so I returned it.
March 6, 2020
Unusual. She never does the expected. Deftly pulls the reader in and always surprises.
December 18, 2020
These were uneven stories, the last few were my favorite
July 2, 2021
Enjoyed these short stories...excellent writing with twists and ghosts!
January 20, 2023
Eight short stories, only one decent one.
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