Victorian Ghost Stories: By Eminent Women Writers

Rating:
Summary: Some good ghost stories, but not excellent
Review: If you are a hard-core horror fan, this book is not for you. There are some good, classic ghost stories in here, but some stories don't seem to belong here. After finishing the book, I had the impression that they wanted a certain number of stories so insert some by women writers from the period whether the story met the criteria of ghost story or not.

The story about the Strid is one example of this. No where in there is there a ghost. It is a spooky story, but no a very good one. Seems more like some practice story that was being written.

There is a story about a family who move from Townsend's End to Boston in a house the father found at a bargain. Evidently, the house is haunted and has scared off previous renters. This is pretty formulaic. The author ends the story with a twist which doesn't follow. I don't want to give away an ending, but I was disappointed. It read like a student paper where the student realizes they have already passed the 750-word limit and now just wants to end the thing.

The story about the train clerk and the story about hand are good. They could easily be told to ghost enthusiasts everywhere without feeling embarrassed.

Rating:
Summary: Some good ghost stories, but not excellent
Review: If you are a hard-core horror fan, this book is not for you. There are some good, classic ghost stories in here, but some stories don't seem to belong here. After finishing the book, I had the impression that they wanted a certain number of stories so insert some by women writers from the period whether the story met the criteria of ghost story or not.

The story about the Strid is one example of this. No where in there is there a ghost. It is a spooky story, but no a very good one. Seems more like some practice story that was being written.

There is a story about a family who move from Townsend's End to Boston in a house the father found at a bargain. Evidently, the house is haunted and has scared off previous renters. This is pretty formulaic. The author ends the story with a twist which doesn't follow. I don't want to give away an ending, but I was disappointed. It read like a student paper where the student realizes they have already passed the 750-word limit and now just wants to end the thing.

The story about the train clerk and the story about hand are good. They could easily be told to ghost enthusiasts everywhere without feeling embarrassed.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Collection
Review: This is a fabulous collection of short stories by Victorian women, most of whom are long out of print. The mores and manners of their time are apparent in all of the stories--as is the sometimes contradictory belief in both established religion and the supernatural.

These are not horror stories, nor are they all "ghost stories" in the truest sense of the phrase. They are, rather, a slice of Victorian life, told through the female voice with a strength that is sometimes surprising.


I enjoyed them all immensely (with the exception of the dull bit of poetry) and recommend them to any fan of Victorian lit.