Among the Shadows (1990)

The third of eight volumes of L.M. Montgomery's short-stories collected and edited by Rea Wilmshurst, and published from 1988 to 1995 - the first two were Akin to Anne: Tales of Other Orphans and Along the Shore: Tales by the Sea - Among the Shadows presents nineteen selections, each of which address some ghostly, or socially "disturbing" theme. Here are tales of hauntings, seeming hauntings, drunken anti-heroes capable of one good deed, thieves being caught and punished (or not, as the case may be), embezzlers finding redemption, social outcasts finding salvation, and murderers confessing (or fleeing). In short: this is not the L.M. Montgomery who is all sweetness and light - of course, none of Montgomery's work is all sweetness and light, but that's another story - but the one capable of writing about the darker impulses of the human heart, and the eerie and unhappy world of the spirit. Selections include:

The Closed Door, a truly eerie tale, which follows a group of children as they walk through a "door" into a ghostly house from the past, solving an old mystery concerning a lost pearl, and a reputedly faithless wife in the process, and getting their first glimpse of true evil - something that none of them will ever forget...

Davenport's Story, in which a ghostly visitation prevents a tragedy, when the eponymous Davenport's wife, daughter and brother-in-law are due to sail to Europe...

The Deacon's Painkiller, a humorous selection in which an unbending deacon, having forbidden his daughter to marry her respectable physician suitor, because he once, in his youth, had a drunken episode, gets a taste of his own medicine...

Detected by the Camera, in which a thief is caught red-handed on film, stealing a pocketbook containing five hundred dollars...

From out the Silence, which follows the story of a middle-aged woman who bitterly regrets the quarrel she once had with her closest friend - a quarrel that can never now be resolved, as the friend died without sending any word - who, through her compassionate action in taking in distant relations for whom she has little fondness, receives a most unexpected message of forgiveness...

The Girl at the Gate, in which a dying man's young bride - long since dead herself - returns to fulfill a promise to her husband, that she would be present as his own deathbed...

The House Party at Smoky Island, another intensely eerie selection, in which the tense stand-off between a husband and his wife, who has begun to suspect that he might have been responsible for his previous wife's death, is broken by the ghostly appearance of the real murderer, come from beyond the grave to confess...

The Man on the Train, in which a kindly old grandmother, frightened at the prospect of her first trip on the rails, is looked after by a thoughtful young stranger who turns out to be a murderer on the run from the law...

The Martyrdom of Estella, in which a plain farm girl finds her betrothed stolen out from underneath her by a glamorous actress boarding with her family, until a drunken episode opens his eyes...

Min, the tale of a minister whose sojourn in a rural community has not been a complete success, who finds himself attracted to the village pariah...

Miriam's Lover, in which a young girl experiences a deep and spiritual connection to her fiancee, and can - though they live hundreds of miles apart - receive "messages" from him...

Miss Calista's Peppermint Bottle, in which an intrepid old maid discovers who it was who attempted to rob her, and handles the situation in her own inimitable style...

The Old Chest at Wyther Grange, a tale within a tale, in which a young girl learns the tragic story behind an old chest stored in her grandmother's house...

The Red Room, the gothic story of an unhappy marriage, a faithless wife, and a murder - all as witnessed by a young girl...

A Redeeming Sacrifice, a rather sentimental selection, in which a worthless young layabout, realizing that he will never make anything of himself, decides to do the one decent thing of his life, and release his beloved - a worthy young woman - from their agreement...

The Redemption of John Churchill, in which a convict, released at long last from prison, plans on "going to the devil," after a brief visit with his son...

Some Fools and a Saint, the longest story in the collection, in which a series of very destructive "hauntings" is finally solved, revealing an earthly cause that is no less disturbing, for not being supernatural...

The Tryst of the White Lady, in which a young man is disappointed to discover that he has not fallen in love with a ghost after all, but a real live woman...

And finally, White Magic, in which a love triangle is happily resolved, with or without the use of a love potion, depending upon one's interpretation...

I enjoyed most, if not all, of these stories, even the ones which veered into overtly sentimentality (hardly a surprise, in L.M. Montgomery), but my particular favorites would have to be: The Closed Door, because I identify so strongly with Montgomery's use of doors, and the going through of doors, as a means of discussing our reaction to the unknown; Miss Calista's Peppermint Bottle, because I'm a good old-fashioned bleeding-heart liberal, when you come right down to it, and liked the heroine's response to the man who attempted to rob her; and Some Fools and a Saint, because it was deliciously creepy, and didn't sugar-coat anything, at the end. All Montgomery fans should give Among the Shadows a try, and experience the "darker" side of one of their favorite authors! ( )

I was surprised that L.M. Montgomery could write this kind of thing this well. Not that they're truly scary, but some of them are pretty eerie. ( )

This collection of short stories, subtitled "Tales from the Darker Side," shows that the darker side of L.M. Montgomery is really not all that dark. If you are looking for scary stories, you will probably be disappointed. If you are a fan of Montgomery's other books, you will probably enjoy this collection. ( )

* * * 1/2

This short story collection will appeal to fans of L.M. Montgomery who also like a dose of spookiness in their tales. Be warned, though: not all the tales are as shivery as a title like Among the Shadows would lead you to believe. Some tales are well-executed but not spooky. Some are kind of predictable, but that may just be because they're so short that there isn't much time for multiple devious twists and turns. All of them are enjoyable to some extent, with a few being downright sweet, as LMM is wont to be sometimes (and really, sometimes that's exactly what you want). And the stories that are spooky really do the job. "Davenport's Story" and "The House Party at Smoky Island" actually sent chills down my spine when I finished them. Overall I think the collection was organized well, balancing the spooky with the non, and it was bookended with strong stories. Worth a read. ( )

I haven't read the lovely lady from Canada in a long time, but I devoured the Anne of Green Gables series when I was a teenager, along with most of her other stories. This book escaped me, and I was feeling in the mood for some good old-fashioned ghost stories. Turns out, only a few of the stories were actual ghost tales; the rest of the stories were considered dark because of the subject matter: drunkards, murderers, embezzlers, broken hearts. The best one was the longest piece in the collection, "Three Fools and a Saint". The stories were enjoyable, but not as sparkling as I remember her writing to be as a child. Maybe I was just disappointed because I wanted more spook. A decent addition to her cannon, but not her best. ( )