Free Downloads Five Victorian Ghost Novels
In this volume are reprinted, complete and unabridged, five great classics of the Victorian supernatural novel: The Uninhabited House by Mrs. J. H. Riddell; The Amber Witch by J. W. Meinhold; Monsieur Maurice by Amelia B. Edwards; A Phantom Lover by Vernon Lee; and The Ghost of Guir House by Charles Willing Beale.These five novels present the entire panoply of Victorian thrills and chills at their best: pale ghosts wandering through the ancient chambers of a deserted mansion; the impingement of the restless, unquiet evil on the present; the Devil and bizarre witchcraft, strange magical dooms; love from the past and the no-boundary condition of death; hidden powers, occult knowledge, mental structures and weird magic not recorded elsewhere.These five novels, although recognized masterpieces of supernatural horror, are nowhere else in print. Indeed, three out of five of them have never before been reprinted since their initial appearance in fabulously rare periodicals and special publications. This is your first chance to read these fine products of the Victorian era.
Paperback: 464 pages
Publisher: Dover Publications; First Printing - First Thus edition (January 5, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0486225585
ISBN-13: 978-0486225586
Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 0.9 x 8.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #1,292,183 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #124 in Books > Literature & Fiction > History & Criticism > Movements & Periods > Victorian #4728 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Mystery > Supernatural #16922 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Short Stories & Anthologies > Short Stories
Many Victorian ghost novels were published in periodicals such as Routledge's Christmas Annual and never reprinted elsewhere. (A Christmas annual may seem incongruous, but apparently ghost stories were especially popular over the Christmas season as evening family entertainment around the fireplace.) E. F. Bleiler compiled these rare stories for this Dover publication, Five Victorian Ghost Novels. I enjoyed all five stories and highly recommend this collection.The Uninhabited House (1875) by Mrs. J. H. Riddle (a pseudonym for Mrs. Charlotte E. Riddle) is a realistic depiction of a haunted house, one that is increasingly difficult to lease out. Although the property is well-maintained, accessible, and well-priced, one after another enthusiastic family quickly becomes disillusioned with their new home, even forfeiting the annual lease payments to quit the premises.Riddle's portrayal of law clerks, pensioners, and real estate speculators is sufficiently detailed to create an authentic setting and backdrop for this ghost story. The plot advances somewhat leisurely, but I never lost interest. I remained uncertain for a considerable period as to whether the apparition was real, or was a fraudulent fabrication by an unscrupulous real estate speculator. Mrs. Riddle weaves into the plot a Victorian romance, one that contributes to the storyline, but does not dominate it.The Amber Witch (1895) by Johannes Wilhelm Meinhold was quite popular among Victorian readers; it was translated twice into English and published in several editions. Written in a chronicle format, many elements in the plot are historically accurate and offer a surprising verisimilitude to this frightening account dating (supposedly) from the brutal Thirty Years War.
This collection offers something for everyone. By which I mean no two are in the least similar, and a couple are so disparate that I would venture to say that if you like one, you would not at all enjoy the other.The second novel in the book, "The Amber Witch," is the longest, as well as the least enjoyed by me. It is a fictional tale, but when first published claimed to be, as stated in the preface, a translation of a 15th century manuscript written by a pastor who endured much woe and trouble when marauders ravaged his village and his daughter is falsely accused of witchcraft. The "pastor's" style of writing is antiquated, but readable. My objection is the frequent interjections of Latin words with absolutely no explanations of their meanings in English. Presumably the average person in the Victorian era was much more familiar with Latin than today's reader, and also the scholarly reader of the 1970's (when this book was published) might have had an easier time. Personally, I had to keep near a computer and look things up quite frequently. Another issue, more personal to me, possibly, than the average person, was the philosophy of the narrator. No matter how many horrible calamities befall him, he is able to work it into his religion, while ascribing to his god both the impetus for his woe as well as the means to endure it. It is quite obvious that the malevolence of the people surrounding him is the sole cause of his hardship, and also that religion is the means by which they convince the general populace to go along with their evil schemes, yet his reliance on his God infrequently wavers. There are also no ghosts in this story.I much preferred "The Ghost of Guir House." It felt to me like the reward for slogging through the rest of the book.
Five Victorian Ghost Novels The Victorian Home: The Grandeur and Comforts of the Victorian Era, in Households Past and Present Victorian Era: 20 Hand-Drawn Victorian Patterns Depicting Authentic Fashion and Activites (Creativity & Mediation) Great Fashion Designs of the Victorian Era Paper Dolls in Full Color (Dover Victorian Paper Dolls) Victorian Family Paper Dolls (Dover Victorian Paper Dolls) Victorian Houses: 22 Original Interior and Exterior Designs to Walk You through Beautiful Victorian Houses (Stress-Relief & Imagination Boost) The Oxford Book of Victorian Ghost Stories How I Became A Ghost - A Choctaw Trail of Tears Story (Book 1 in the How I Became A Ghost Series) True Ghost Stories and Hauntings: 10 Spine Chilling Accounts of True Ghost Stories and Hauntings, True Paranormal Reports and Haunted Houses Ghost Racers (Secret Wars: Battleworld: Ghost Racers) True Ghost Stories & Tales of Hauntings. Stories of Ghosts & Demons.: True Ghost Stories High Five (Stephanie Plum, No. 5) (Stephanie Plum Novels) Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed (A Five Little Monkeys Story) Five Little Monkeys Sitting in a Tree (A Five Little Monkeys Story) Five Little Monkeys Wash the Car (A Five Little Monkeys Story) Five Little Monkeys Storybook Treasury (A Five Little Monkeys Story) Five Little Monkeys Jump in the Bath (A Five Little Monkeys Story) Five Little Monkeys Trick-or-Treat (A Five Little Monkeys Story) Five Little Monkeys with Nothing to Do (A Five Little Monkeys Story) Five Little Monkeys Bake a Birthday Cake (A Five Little Monkeys Story)
