Customer Reviews

At Chrighton Abbey and Other Horror Stories

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[WHAT YOU CAN READ] This collection contains five short horror stories by Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1835-1915), prolific Victorian writer famous for her "Lady Audrey's Secret." These five stories are "At Chrighton Abbey" "The Cold Embrace" "The Shadow in the Corner" "Good Lady Ducayne" and "Eveline's Vistant."

[CONTENTS] The stories are all related to the horror themes in a lurid Victorian way, and wil give you all perfect reading in a country house at midnight. The contents are (some words I quote from the backcover): 'At Crighton Abbey' is a Christmas ghost story; 'The Cold Embrace' is the story of a proud art student pursued by the ghost; "The Shadow in the Corner' is about a frightening thing seen by a girl working for a man with a scientific mind; 'Good Lady Ducayne' is a spooky tale, and great anthology favorite too, dealing with a vampire theme (published one year before "Dracula" by Bram Stoker, friend of Braddon; and 'Eveline's Vistant' is the tale of two cousins who fight to the death over a woman. All the tales are chilling enough for modern readers, but what is remarkable is that Braddon deftly hides a sexual or social themes about contemporary women under these ghost stories, as she always does.

[EDITION] The book contains only these stories (besides a too brief introduction) and nothing else. No footnotes, no illustrations, no original publication data. And you may remember that all these tales here are also included in another collection titled "The Cold Embrace" edited by Richard Dalby (published by Ash-Tree Press).

[ORIGINAL PUBLICATION] "The Cold Embrace" is from "The Welcome Guest" 29, Sep. 1860. "Eveline's vistant" from "Belgravia" Jan. 1867. "At Chrighton Abbey" from "Belgravia Annual" 1871. "The Shadow in the COrner" from "All the Year Round" 1879. And "Good Lady Ducayne" from "The Strand Magazine" 1896.