Winter's Ghosts by Stephanie Ellis, Alyson Faye, Charlotte Riddell and Edith Wharton is an anthology of ghost stories that I read whilst on holiday in Marrakech, Morocco. Featuring four short ghost stories, this anthology is small yet perfectly formed.
Winter is traditionally the time for a ghost story. Alyson Faye and Stephanie Ellis continue this custom with their short stories Chilled to the Bone and Dead Man's Fair where, in both gothic mansion and remote hills, blizzards close in and the dead walk. Pairing with these modern day writers are Charlotte Riddell and Edith Wharton, both known for their skill in weaving a ghostly tale but whose stories are in danger of being forgotten. Their inclusion is intended to help prevent this and honour those female authors who paved the way for the rest of us.
Chilled to the Bone by Alyson Faye is a gleefully gothic tale of Christmas greed where Edgar Milner of Milner Manor plots against his female cousin who has inherited money he wants to get his hands on. His antics of getting dressed up in female attire to try and lure her into danger made me smile wryly as I knew he hadn't factored in her wily companion.
Dead Man's Fair by Stephanie Ellis tells the tale of a son who carries out the same journey to market in Winter that his father never returned from. The hints of danger and a pub meeting with the last man to see his father alive, hints as to his true fate, and a ghoulish retribution.
A Strange Christmas Game by Charlotte Riddell is a complicated set of circumstances that reminded me of the picture of Dorian Gray in that a young man seemed to lose his life to enable an older man to live.
The Triumph of Night by Edith Wharton is a traditional tale of the death/disappearance of a distant relative and benefactor on Christmas Eve which leads to the inheritance of his haunted house and a strange coincidence which leads to the discovery of what really happened.
At the end of the anthology there is an interesting biography for Charlotte Riddell 1832-1906 and Edith Wharton (the first woman writer to win the Pulitzer Prize) 1862-1937 5/5
Available on Amazon as an e book only: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CP8KKGLC?th=1&psc=1&geniuslink=true or https://mybook.to/WintersGhosts
There is also a fascinating insight into how the anthology came about on Stephanie Ellis' blog which can be found here: https://stephanieellis.org/2023/12/20/winters-ghosts-chilling-tales-for-christmas
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