Category: Reading Challenges

Book Review: Gothic Tales by Elizabeth Gaskell

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Gothic TalesAbout the Book

‘Such whispered tales, such old temptations and hauntings, and devilish terrors’

Elizabeth Gaskell’s chilling Gothic tales blend the real and the supernatural to eerie, compelling effect. Whether in ‘Disappearances’, inspired by local legends of mysterious vanishings which mixes gossip and fact, or in ‘Curious, if True’, a playful reworking of fairy tales, all the pieces in this volume form a stark contrast to the social realism of Gaskell’s novels, revealing a darker and more unsettling style of writing.

Format: ebook (347 pp.)    Publisher: Shandon Press
Published: 11th October 2016      Genre: Fiction, Short Stories, Horror, Classics

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk  ǀ  Amazon.com 
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find Gothic Tales on Goodreads

My Review

Better known now for her novels, such as Mary Barton and Cranford, Elizabeth Gaskell became popular in her own time for her ghost stories, aided by Charles Dickens, who published her work in his magazine Household Words.  The stories in this collection date from 1851 to 1861.

Like many short story collections, some of the stories are stronger than others.  I wouldn’t say any of them are particularly scary but in the best of them there is certainly an unsettling air and a sense of the Gothic.  Common features include mysterious disappearances, revenge in the form of curses inherited down through generations, family rifts, ghostly visitations, heroines in peril and gloomy manor houses or chateaux.

Stories I particularly enjoyed were:

‘Lois the Witch’ – in which the reader gets a bad feeling for the fortunes of the heroine, Lois, as soon as it becomes clear she’s headed for 17th century Salem and that not everyone is pleased to see her.

‘The Old Nurse’s Story’ – in which a ghostly presence roams the freezing Northumberland moors

‘The Poor Clare’ – in which an evil double, the result of a woman’s bitter curse, haunts future generations

‘The Grey Woman’ – featuring a full-on Gothic chateau, complete with dark passages and sealed off wings, and a husband of dubious moral character

Gothic Tales is a book on my Classics Club list and my book for the Classic Club’s October Dare which involved reading a book from your list that classified as thrilling, a mystery, Gothic or a book or author that SCARED you (because of its length, it’s topic, it’s reputation etc).

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In three words: Spooky, mysterious, Gothic

Try something similar…Collected Ghost Stories by M. R. James

Elizabeth GaskellAbout the Author

Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, née Stevenson (29 September 1810 – 12 November 1865), often referred to simply as Mrs. Gaskell, was an English novelist and short story writer during the Victorian era. She is perhaps best known for her biography of Charlotte Brontë.

Her novels offer a detailed portrait of the lives of many strata of society, including the very poor, and as such are of interest to social historians as well as lovers of literature.

Blog Tour/Book Review: The Glorious Dead by Tim Atkinson

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The Glorious Dead Blog Tour Poster

I’m honoured to be hosting today’s stop on the blog tour for The Glorious Dead by Tim Atkinson.  Described as ‘a story of love, war and betrayal among the ruins of Ypres’, it’s due to be published on 1st November.

My grateful thanks to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part in the tour and for my review copy.

The Glorious DeadAbout the Book

What happened when the Great War ended and the guns stopped firing? Who cleared the battlefields and buried the dead?

It’s 1918 and the war may be over but Lance-Corporal Jack Patterson and the men of his platoon are still knee-deep in Flanders mud, searching the battlefields for the remains of comrades killed in action.

But duty isn’t all that’s keeping Jack in Flanders. For one there is Katia, the daughter of a local publican, with whom he has struck up a romance. And then there is something else, a secret that lies buried in Jack’s past, one he hopes isn’t about to be dug up…

Praise for The Glorious Dead

‘An interesting read on an almost forgotten aspect of the First World War.’ [Martin Middlebrook, author of The First Day on the Somme]

‘A powerful subject tackled with energy and skill’ [Ian McMillan]

‘Tim Atkinson highlights the monumental effort made to ensure the memory and sacrifice of those who died in the First World War was not forgotten’ [Colonel Iain Standen, CEO of Bletchley Park Trust]

Format: Hardcover, ebook (400 pp.)    Publisher: Unbound
Published: 1st November 2018      Genre: Historical Fiction

Pre-order/Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk  ǀ  Amazon.com  ǀ Hive.co.uk (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find The Glorious Dead  on Goodreads

My Review

The Glorious Dead explores the legacy of war, not only through its focus on the gruesome work of Jack and his comrades but also in terms of the impact on the landscape and on the people who once lived and worked on land now transformed into contaminated battlefields or requisitioned for use as military cemeteries.   It exposes the competing views of those who advocated memorialising the destruction and those who advocated creating new things from the ruins of the old.  In addition, it makes clear the physical and psychological toll of the work of men like Jack and his platoon – ‘the foul and lingering taste of death and decay’ – not to mention the very real dangers they faced as they search battlefields potentially still hiding unexploded ordinance.

Interspersed with the story of Jack Patterson and his comrades are fragments of songs and excerpts from military reports, reminding me of another book I read recently – The Black Prince by Adam Roberts – that uses a similar ‘narrative collage’ technique.

As the book progresses, it becomes clear that not everyone has acted as honourably as the multitude of brave soldiers interred in the cemeteries.   And Jack has secrets of his own, the nature of which haunt his dreams. The book also contains a walk-on part for a famous author who is undertaking a very personal search, the story of which was recently adapted into a film.   And it covers a very special task that has an important place to this day in the UK’s remembrance of the First World War.

Because of the subject matter, I’d be lying if I said this was an easy read. However, importantly, The Glorious Dead sheds light on the dark legacy of war but also on the efforts of many dedicated individuals to honour the fallen, continued to this day through the work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.  The book is a timely reminder of the horror of war and its lasting impact on nations and individuals as we approach Remembrance Day.

I received an advance review copy courtesy of publishers, Unbound, and Random Things Tours.

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In three words: Moving, dark, compelling

Try something similar…Memoirs of an Infantry Officer by Siegfried Sassoon

Tim Atkinson Author PictureAbout the Author

Tim Atkinson is a teacher, author and award-winning blogger. He studied philosophy at the University of Hull and has worked variously as a filing clerk, lay-clerk, chain-man and school teacher. He was born in Colchester, brought up in Yorkshire and now lives in Lincolnshire.

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