First published 2010
Michael Newton gathers outstanding supernatural fiction across multiple generations of writers. The anthology opens with Elizabeth Gaskell's "The Old Nurse's Story" and concludes with Edith Wharton's "Afterword." Newton selects tales that trace how ghostly fiction has developed through various periods and literary approaches. The dead consistently reject their burial, returning to disturb the living through methods both shocking and surprising. These phantoms demonstrate remarkable adaptability to historical changes while maintaining their role as humanity's most enduring otherworldly visitors. Newton offers background for each story, detailing how these spectral narratives mirror their respective time periods and how audiences have interpreted them across different decades. The anthology proves that although literary trends transform, ghost stories persist by addressing fundamental aspects of human experience. The spirits achieve greater reality than the mortal characters they encounter, surviving beyond the physical world that attempts to erase them.
Genres: literary-fiction, anthologies, 20th-century, horror, ghost-stories, 19th-century
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, thought-provoking
Tropes: historical-fiction, supernatural-elements
Period: 19th-Century, 20th-Century
464 pages · Paperback · Penguin Classics