Customer Reviews

Best Ghost Stories (Classic Collection)

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`Is it haunted,' I asked .....`Well,' cried the landlord, in an outburst of frankness that had the appearance of desperation - `I wouldn't sleep in it.'

Ghost Stories (Collector's Library) throughout Charles Dickens career he often turn his hand to writing short pieces of ghostly fiction traditionally during Christmas. This beautiful book collectors edition is an enchanting way to renew or form a relationship with this authors works. The books small around A5 in size, well made with red cloth and then paper cover, gold page edges and a fine paper and print. Illustration inside are selected originals.

We have a mix of stories here from his first successful pieces of work from the Pickwick Papers, you will find five ghost stories all are included in this collection. Other stories some remain chilling but not all. For me the shortest of stories were the ones I loved the most. Dickens usual traits are everywhere, style, wit, biting irony, humorous incidents and moral observation keeping them all entertaining and some creepy in just the right places. Stand outs for me The Madman's Manuscript, The Ghost in the Bride's Chamber, The Trail for Murder and The Signalman. Although, I will have to say the ghost who won the most descriptive hideous award would be in Baron Koeldwetout's Apparition. Short Stories and a short summary below of expectation.

The Queer Chair - From The Pickwick Papers - Humours Story of nightmare elements.
A Madman's Manuscript - Loved this, ten pages of madness - From The Pickwick Papers
The Goblins who Stole a Sexton - From The Pickwick Papers - Feels like an early draft of A Christmas Carol. Goblins in their lair.
The Ghosts of the Mail - From The Pickwick Papers - Fantasy time-travel and adventure
Baron Koeldwetout's Apparition - An excerpt from Nicholas Nickleby
The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain - It is the fifth and last of Dickens' Christmas novellas. Dickens again playing around with elements that later went into A Christmas Carol.
To be Read at Dusk - two part tale, one a supernatural riddle, the other deals with the warning spirit of a twin brother.
The Ghost in the Bride's Chamber - from The Lazy Tour Of Two Idle Apprentices - A story about a ghost that is doomed to walk the earth for evermore.
The Haunted House - Dickens invites a group of authors to stay in a haunted house. Two stories by Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell penned a story in Dickens style but its not here.
The Trial for Murder - (a. k. a. "To Be Taken with a Grain of Salt") Revenge from beyond the Grave.
The Signalman - Dickens wrote this tale, also known as "No. 1 Branch Line, the Signalman," after being himself involved in a train wreck in which he (and, apparently, his mistress) narrowly escaped injury - an incident that haunted him for the rest of his life.
Christmas Ghosts - Light-heart and festive the author summarises his favourite stories.
The Lawyer and the Ghosts - Dickens has fun with the notions of ghosts, irony by raising the question.
Four Ghost Stories - A Quartet ;D
The Portrait-Painter's Story - They say art should imitate life, strange one this!

Andrea Bowhill