Customer Reviews

The Virago Book of Ghost Stories

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This is a truly excellent collection of ghost stories by women. There is something for every taste: stories amusing, tender, unexpected, and/or truly bone-chilling. The stories, which range in length from a few pages to novella, are arranged in chronological order; and the focus is by no means only on women.

Come a dark and stormy night you will be glad to have the company of this compendium of pleasant horrors.

This ghost story collection is noteworthy on several counts. Presented here are 31 short stories, written by women, from the early 19th century to the dawn of the 21st century. Along with reliables such as Charlotte Bronte, Elizabeth Gaskell, and Charlotte Riddell, there are stories from Edith Wharton and Stella Gibbons. While a few of the older stories have been numerously anthologized, the majority of this fiction is hasn't been widely published. There are some interesting variations of the genre as well, particularly A.S. Byatt's "The July Ghost" and Angela Carter's "Ashputtle."

Ghost stories might not necessarily make you believe in ghosts, but if their aim is to catch you off-balance and leave you at least a little uneasy, the tales in this collection are quite successful. This anthology should satisfy both the ghost story fancier as well as students and enthusiasts of feminine and feminist literature. The accompanying scholarship is limited to a preface by editor Richard Dalby and a series of biographical profiles in the end pages.