Dorothy Kathleen Broster (1877-1950) is best known for her historical novels. But there is a darker side to her writing, glimpsed in her early poems - The Second of September 1792 is a fine example - and finding full expression in the stories she wrote after she had become a highly successful novelist. Sometimes - as in The Window or The Pestering, or All Soul's Day - these are what we might call 'explainable' ghost stories: apparitions or hauntings whose origin is to be found in some violent or unjust action in the past. Other stories, Couching at the Door and From the Abyss, have little or no explanation, even in supernatural terms. Add to these an elegant reworking of the Persephone myth, The Taste of Pomegranates, the downright bloodthirsty Clairvoyance, and the psychological studies, The Promised Land and The Pavement which so well merit the heading 'Madness and Obsession', and you have a collection to disturb and unsettle the strongest nerves.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Modern Spooks and Themes,
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This review is from: Couching at the Door (Wordsworth Mystery & Supernatural) (Tales of Mystery & the Supernatural) (Paperback)
D. K. Broster was best known for writing historical fiction, and one trilogy about Scottish highlanders remained in print nearly to the present day. It was only in the supernatural stories that she showed a darker side.
An intensely private person, little is known about her family or life outside of her connection to Oxford, where she attended one of the first lady colleges and worked as a secretary early in her career. When she died in 1950, many readers were surprised to find out that D. K. Broster was female and Engish. This is a great collection of supernatural fiction. I think that the standout was the story set in then newly-discovered French caves with cave paintings. She has a tremendous gift of description--which makes the stories creepier. The horror movie "Carnival of Souls" must have lifted its plot device from "From the Abyss." But the Broster story is more touching, because there are those who care about the returned girl. These are genuinely scary stories. The book was out of print for many years, but let's hope that it remains available for a good while.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Two straightforward ghost stories and seven other strange tales,
By E. A. Lovitt "starmoth" (Gladwin, MI USA) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER) (TOP 100 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
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This review is from: Couching at the Door (Wordsworth Mystery & Supernatural) (Tales of Mystery & the Supernatural) (Paperback)
Dorothy Kathleen Broster (1877-1950), the author of this short story collection, was a popular British novelist and short-story writer. She was educated at Oxford, and served as a Red Cross nurse during World War I. Her stories, even the most frightening ones like "The Pestering," are wrought with gentle humor and social commentary.
The stories: "Couching at the Door"--A decadent poet dabbles in black magic (this is only hinted at) and acquires a familiar in the shape of a fur boa. He corrupts a young artist and attempts to pass off his familiar onto his victim. It is very easy to see references to Oscar Wilde and Aubrey Beardsley in this Edwardian tale. "From the Abyss"--A horrific automobile crash seems to split a young woman into two separate personalities. Her fiancé attempts to help her heal. "Clairvoyance"--The author departs from her usual bloodless style in this tale of a young clairvoyant who falls under the influence of an ancient Samurai sword. "The Pavement"--There is no supernatural element in this tale of an old caretaker of a Roman ruin found on her brother's farm. "The Window"--The author relies on her experience as a nurse during World War I to tell this story of a young British officer in France, who breaks into a decaying chateau and then is trapped inside by its vengeful ghosts. "Juggernaut"--A mystery writer sprains her ankle and goes to the seaside to recover. She attempts to rent a bath chair (wheel chair) from one of the old men who ply their trade along the beach. This particular old man is hiding a dark secret about his previous customer. "The Promised Land"--A timid spinster dreams of vacationing in Italy. When her nephew sends her the necessary funds, she is trapped into inviting her overbearing cousin to accompany her. This story has no supernatural elements, but is a fine psychological study. "The Pestering"--Easily the most frightening story in this book. A young couple buys an Elizabethan house that is remarkably cheap for its size. The wife opens a tea room in order to make ends meet, and is soon being pestered by an old man who wants to come inside in order to search for his chest. "The Taste of Pomegranates"--This story is a sophisticated reworking of an Edgar Rice Burroughs story about a man who is transported back and forth between the present and the Stone Age. Two British sisters vacationing in the Périgord region of France are invited to view the famous Cro-Magnon cave art. They are trapped inside one of the caves by a landslide and undergo some very frightening experiences. The author weaves the legend of Persephone into this delicate, yet frightening tale.
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Real Horror, not just peek-a-boo,
This review is from: Couching at the Door (Wordsworth Mystery & Supernatural) (Tales of Mystery & the Supernatural) (Paperback)
The title story Couching at the Door hit me harder than many of the works of much more famous authors of ghost and horror stories. The horror in this story is one's own horror, a creation of one's own sins, and the more one fights it, the more one tries to pawn it off on others, the more the horror grows. The other stories have different themes but I keep returning to the first one.
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Augustine Marchant, Captain Seton, Miss Flora, Miss Murchison, Ralph Seton, Aunt Flora, Miss Halkett, Gaston de Précy, Edward Strode, Abbot's Medding, Lydia Reid, Miss Reid, West Cliff, Miss Fraser, Font de Gaume, Les Eyzies, Lower Waddington, Gabriel Lenormand, Lawrence Storey, Gabrielle de Précy, Mlle de Précy, Office of Works, Sir Edgar, Aunt Nellie, Saint Catherine Browse Sample Pages:
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Augustine Marchant, Captain Seton, Miss Flora, Miss Murchison, Ralph Seton, Aunt Flora, Miss Halkett, Gaston de Précy, Edward Strode, Abbot's Medding, Lydia Reid, Miss Reid, West Cliff, Miss Fraser, Font de Gaume, Les Eyzies, Lower Waddington, Gabriel Lenormand, Lawrence Storey, Gabrielle de Précy, Mlle de Précy, Office of Works, Sir Edgar, Aunt Nellie, Saint Catherine Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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