Customer Reviews

Twilight Stories

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People who scoff at ghosts and prophetic dreams may think better of it after reading Broughton's chilling Victorian tales.

Rhoda Broughton has a wonderful talent for putting sensible, likeable people into scary situations. A correspondence between two lively matrons leads to tragedy in a haunted house. The night train to Paris threatens to end in murder. The nightmare of a child-like bride comes true. In fact, dreams have an almost Freudian weightiness in Broughton's stories, the lurking place of ghostly visitors and predators.

There are just five pieces in this slender volume. But Broughton is a very fine prose stylist, and every story is a gem, rich in character development and psychological nuance. I also enjoyed the stories for their charming glimpses into bygone fashions and customs.

The Victorians were fascinated by occult phenomena, and collections of weird tales like this one were immensely popular.

Twilight Stories was originally published under the title Tales for Christmas Eve (1873). No doubt the holidays with their cozy family gatherings were ideal for reading terrifying tales out loud by the fire.

Earlier the stories appeared in Temple Bar magazine, one of the leading literary magazines in Victorian London. Broughton's fiction held its own in company with works by Charles Dickens, Willie Collins and Mrs. Braddon.

This edition of Twilight Stories is nicely produced by Victorian Secrets, a British publisher doing a great service by reviving forgotten Victorian literary treasures. The introduction by Emma Liggins is excellent.

If you're like me, after you've devoured the usual Victorians, you want more. Rhoda Broughton is a delightful find.