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Modern Ghost Stories
The twenty-seven women writers included here have certainly done their jobs well. You are sure to shiver while reading these well-told tales. A. S. Byatt, A. L. Barker, Richmal Crompton, Celia Fremlin, Penelope Lively, Daphne du Maurier, Ruth Rendell, and Jean Rhys are among the writers whose stories reveal the extraordinary range and development of a genre that has thrilled readers for over two hundred years.
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1991
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About the author
Richard Dalby
123 books23 followersRichard Dalby (1949-2017) was an editor and literary researcher.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 16, 2024
1.75/5
Even given that anthologies and short stories are nor my forte I found the stories in this collection to be bland, forgettable, underwhelming, and yes even outright boring at times.
Even given that anthologies and short stories are nor my forte I found the stories in this collection to be bland, forgettable, underwhelming, and yes even outright boring at times.
December 6, 2019
Having read my fair share of spooky anthologies, my expectations were quite meh going in. I was prepared for many duplicates of stories from other anthologies (lookin' at you, Oxford Editions), and just overall retread from story to story, given the niche subject of ghosts. But this had it all: gory gems, murder by spirit, Russian nesting dolls (AKA: a story within a story), humor and heart, each written in a style all her own; some were old, some new. I suppose you could deem my list minuscule, but they all left me uneasily sifting through the shadows once finished:
*"With or Without Buttons"- Mary Butts
*"Don't Tell Cissie"-Celia Fremlin
*"The Book"-Margaret Irwin
*"The Grey Men"-Rebecca West
*"The Station Road"-Ann Bridge
*"Prelude"-Pamela Sewell
*"I Used to Live Here Once"-Jean Rhys
*"Who's Been Sitting in My Car?"- Antonia Fraser
*"The House of Shadows"-Mary Elizabeth Counselman
*"Rosalind"-Richmal Crompton
*"The Dream of a Fair Woman"- A.L. Barker
*"The Landlady"-Elinor Mordaunt
*"With or Without Buttons"- Mary Butts
*"Don't Tell Cissie"-Celia Fremlin
*"The Book"-Margaret Irwin
*"The Grey Men"-Rebecca West
*"The Station Road"-Ann Bridge
*"Prelude"-Pamela Sewell
*"I Used to Live Here Once"-Jean Rhys
*"Who's Been Sitting in My Car?"- Antonia Fraser
*"The House of Shadows"-Mary Elizabeth Counselman
*"Rosalind"-Richmal Crompton
*"The Dream of a Fair Woman"- A.L. Barker
*"The Landlady"-Elinor Mordaunt
May 7, 2012
An entertaining mixture of stories. I tended to prefer the shorter stories. My favorites of the set were "The Book" by Margaret Irwin, "Don't Tell Cissie" by Celia Fremlin and "No. 17" by E. Nesbit. "The Book" warns against the temptation to read anything and everything. Some books may have agendas of their own! "Don't Tell Cissie" is a fairly predictable "who is the ghost?" type story but is told in a very humorous way. "No. 17" is a classic shaggy dog story that made me laugh at the ending.
May 20, 2024
4.5 stars
I picked this book up because it was part of my university library's Halloween featured collection. At the time, I wanted a haunting, seasonal read. I had no idea I would grow to love this collection as much as I have.
I love a good ghost story, and this collection has them in spades. There are lovely, creepy haunted houses with mysterious pasts (With and Without Buttons, The Pesterling, The Haunting of Shawley Rectory), light-hearted ghost stories (Don't Tell Cissie, The House of Shadows), and cozy stories that make you want to curl up by the fire with a cup of tea (The Chaffeur, The Landlady). Some stories blur the line between what happens inside a character's mind and the supernatural, making you question if the plot is a case of insanity, or a haunting (Black Dog, The Pool). Others feature a character battling something beyond their control (Prelude, Mare Amore). Some stories are genuinely disturbing, while others show us the supernatural trying to enforce some form of justice.
There is a wide range of ghost stories here, and while I loved most of them, even my least favorites were, at baseline, interesting, intriguing, or engaging in some way. What surprised me was that most stories in the collection, though they are all ghost stories, highlight issues that are very much human and real. Some characters struggle with mental illnesses, others with grief. There are characters who form new friendships, fall in love, get lost. It is as though by writing about the supernatural, these stories throw into sharp relief experiences that are altogether ordinary and mundane.
I'm definitely going to revisit this collection in the future. I look forward to more perusals of stories that bring excitement, anticipation, suspense, fear, and the feeling that this world is as vast and confusing as it sometimes seems.
I picked this book up because it was part of my university library's Halloween featured collection. At the time, I wanted a haunting, seasonal read. I had no idea I would grow to love this collection as much as I have.
I love a good ghost story, and this collection has them in spades. There are lovely, creepy haunted houses with mysterious pasts (With and Without Buttons, The Pesterling, The Haunting of Shawley Rectory), light-hearted ghost stories (Don't Tell Cissie, The House of Shadows), and cozy stories that make you want to curl up by the fire with a cup of tea (The Chaffeur, The Landlady). Some stories blur the line between what happens inside a character's mind and the supernatural, making you question if the plot is a case of insanity, or a haunting (Black Dog, The Pool). Others feature a character battling something beyond their control (Prelude, Mare Amore). Some stories are genuinely disturbing, while others show us the supernatural trying to enforce some form of justice.
There is a wide range of ghost stories here, and while I loved most of them, even my least favorites were, at baseline, interesting, intriguing, or engaging in some way. What surprised me was that most stories in the collection, though they are all ghost stories, highlight issues that are very much human and real. Some characters struggle with mental illnesses, others with grief. There are characters who form new friendships, fall in love, get lost. It is as though by writing about the supernatural, these stories throw into sharp relief experiences that are altogether ordinary and mundane.
I'm definitely going to revisit this collection in the future. I look forward to more perusals of stories that bring excitement, anticipation, suspense, fear, and the feeling that this world is as vast and confusing as it sometimes seems.
July 25, 2023
Ghost stories don’t age well, why? These are mostly boringly predictable., except “don’t tell Cessi” which is fun.
February 5, 2023
If you replace the word "Modern" in the title with "Gothic," then this is a pretty decent collection! Nothing about these stories is modern though, even from when the book was published in the '90s. There were two or three real standouts (especially the ones with happy endings!) and the rest were solidly fine.
October 19, 2010
27 stories, and 18 of them are well-worth reading--excellent for a ghost story anthology. One might quibble about just how eminent some of the writers are, and the premise seems a bit dated, but the actual collection is very good value.
May 30, 2012
A few of the stories were meh, but most were really good. Some were insanely twisted, others were sweet and a few made me scratch my head, but they all made me think. Not a bad read.
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September 13, 2017AS it says on the back cover "dim the lights and open your mind to the possibilities..." some times is great to have a great scare.
May 23, 2023
Most short story collections have some hits and misses. This one lacks the standouts to offset the slow ones.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews