First published 2005
Chambers opens his collection with August Derleth's tale of isolation, then moves through Lance Salway's deceptively innocent child and Mark Twain's spectral encounter. Robert Arthur's invisible footsteps echo through these pages alongside Jan Mark's mysterious gnomon and Edward Bulwer-Lytton's classic confrontation between the living and the dead. John Gordon explores the breaking point of fear while Chambers contributes his own chilling Room 18. R. Chetwynd-Hayes introduces Brownie, Agatha Christie illuminates dark secrets with her lamp, and Robert Westall haunts young Chas McGill. Edgar Allan Poe's beating heart drives readers toward madness while William Trevor chronicles Paggy Morrissey's final moments. Catherine Storr brings terror to Christmas at the rectory before Oscar Wilde's Canterville ghost closes this collection. These stories span generations of ghost fiction, each selected by Chambers for its ability to chill readers aged 9 to 14.
Genres: 20th-century, horror, ghost-stories, 21st-century
Vibes: atmospheric, chilling, suspenseful
Tropes: anthology, supernatural
224 pages · Paperback · Pan MacMillan