The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce

By Michael Newton

Book Overview

"The ghost is the most enduring figure in supernatural fiction. He is absolutely indestructible. . . . He changes with the styles in fiction but he never goes out of fashion. He is the really permanent citizen of the earth, for mortals, at best, are but transients."
--Dorothy Scarborough

This new selection of ghost stories, by Michael Newton, brings together the best of the genre. From Elizabeth Gaskell's "The Old Nurse's Story" through to Edith Wharton's "Afterward," this collection covers all of the most terrifying tales of the genre. With a thoughtful introduction, and helpful notes, Newton places the stories contextually within the genre and elucidates the changing nature of the ghost story and how we interpret it.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0141442360
• ISBN13: 9780141442365
• Release Date: April 2010
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Length: 464 Pages
• Weight: 0.74 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 7.7"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Classic and engaging stories about ghosts and the supernatural

In this volume JA Cuddon brings together 33 classic ghost stories ranging from the dark and Gothic to the spine chilling and eery, as spine-chilling and eery as well as the witty and irreverent, and the poignant and sad.Some begin in a ghostly and eerie fashion, and in others you only realize there is a ghost at the end. In Angeline, Or the Haunted House, By Emil Zola, we actually discover an innocent explanation of love renewed while My Adventure in Norfolk by AJ Alan, leave us to discover that the people we thought were alive were ghosts. some of the stories involve ghosts taking revenge on those who have treated them cruelly or caused their deaths years before, such as The Old Nurses Story by Elizabeth Gaskill, or Sir Edward Orme by Henry James. some are more poignant than frightening, such as the July Ghost by AS Byatt, but all are great reading and all have some twist or surprise. Ghost stories included here range from those written in 1810 to 1981, and set in Italy, Germany, Scotland, England, Wales, Russia, France, the United States and India. My favourites include The Beggarwoman of Locarno, the eerie The Entail, the twister The Queen of Spades, The heartbreaking The Old Nurse's Story, the spine chilling La Horla, the mystery of The Open door by Margaret Oliphant, the beautiful Angeline, My Adventure in Norfolk and the poignant and heartfelt The July Ghost. All of these are classic and engaging stories about ghosts and the supernatural.