The Wimbourne Book of Victorian Ghost Stories: Volume 2 - Softcover

Twenty ghostly tales from the supernatural masters of the Victorian age. Wimbourne Books presents the second in a series of rare or out-of-print ghost stories from Victorian authors. With an introduction by author Alastair Gunn, Volume 2 in the series spans the years 1836 to 1899, contains ghost stories set at or around Christmas, and includes stories from a wide range of authors including Charles Dickens, Amelia B. Edwards and J. S. Le Fanu. Readers new to this genre will discover its pleasures; the Victorian quaintness, the sometimes shocking difference in social norms, the almost comical politeness and structured etiquette, the archaic and precise language, but mostly the Victorians’ skill at stoking our fears and trepidations, our insecurities and doubts. Even if you are already an aficionado of the ghostly tale there is much within these pages to interest you. Wait until the dark of the snowy night (preferably on Christmas Eve), lock the doors, shutter the windows, light the fire, sit with your back to the wall and bury yourself in the Victorian macabre. Try not to let the creaking floorboards, the distant howl of a dog, the chill breeze that caresses the candle, the shadows in the far recesses of your room, disturb your concentration. Includes the stories; A Christmas Tree (1850) – Charles Dickens; The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton (1836) – Charles Dickens; The Ghost: A Christmas Story (1856) – William D. O’Connor; The Oxford Ghost (1858) – James Hain Friswell; Maese Pérez, the Organist (1861) – Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer; The North Mail (1864) – Amelia B. Edwards; The Abbot's Ghost, or Maurice Treherne's Temptation (1867) – Louisa May Alcott; Catherine’s Quest (1868) – J. Sheridan Le Fanu; The Ghost’s Summons (1868) – Ada Buisson; At Chrighton Abbey (1871) – Mary Elizabeth Braddon; The Ghosts at Grantley (1875) – Leonard Kip; Christmas Eve on a Haunted Hulk (1889) – Frank Cowper; The Water Ghost of Harrowby Hall (1891) – John Kendrick Bangs; Unexplained (1891) – Letitia McClintock; A Gruesome Joke (1891) – Elizabeth Burgoyne Corbett; The Brazen Cross (1893) – H. B. Marriott Watson; The Real and the Counterfeit (1895) – Louisa Baldwin; The Vanishing House (1898) – Bernard Capes; The Great Staircase at Landover Hall (1998) – Frank R. Stockton; Wolverden Tower (1899) – Grant Allen.