The Lost Stradivarius

Rating:
Summary: Timeless ghost story
Review: The ghost story is by & large ideally realized as a short story or at most novella -- the greatest masters, such as M. R. James, never even attempted the novel form; & those who did both short stories and novels, such as E. F. Benson, only the short stories are of outstanding merit. At novel length they tend to bog down considerably or else descend into tedious gothicisms & inessential asides. But Falkner's THE LOST STRADIVARIUS is a perfect gem of a novel, a timeless tale of weird & awe inspiring ghostliness, easily in the top ten of Victorian ghost novels, in an unfailingly elegant style.

-Jessica Amanda Salmonson, Violet Books