The Oxford Book of Victorian Ghost Stories
Editors Michael Cox and R. A. Gilbert assemble more than thirty stories that trace the Victorian ghost tale from its early flourishes to its golden age. The selection includes Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Elizabeth Gaskell, Sheridan Le Fanu, Margaret Oliphant, and Vernon Lee, alongside writers less familiar to modern readers. The arrangement is chronological, letting the form's evolution emerge naturally: from gothic carryovers in the 1830s through the psychological subtleties of the 1880s and 1890s. Cox's introduction is a small masterclass in why the Victorians proved so well suited to ghost fiction. The stories favor slow dread over shock, with cold corridors, family curses, and the quiet return of the unrightfully buried. A reference shelf staple for anyone interested in the roots of supernatural fiction.
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An authoritative anthology of Victorian ghost stories drawn from the era when the form reached its peak.
The Oxford Book of Victorian Ghost Stories was written by Michael Cox.
The Oxford Book of Victorian Ghost Stories is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
