Tara Moore

I am a freaky fan of all things Victorian, especially stories. Throw in ghosts, and I'm there! Throw in Christmas, and I'll meet you with a cup of peppermint Shnapps and hot cocoa. I can never get enough of these types of stories. Mind you, this was a collection, and I had never heard of any author, so these gems are hard to find. Some were hokey, some were serious, all were fun. There's even one from Doyle, and it's not Sherlock! You had to suspend your disbelief for all of them, but you show more know that going into a ghost story anyway, don't you? My favorite quote sums up the "cozy" feeling one gets when reading a Victorian ghost story. Here's the quote: "[If this story is] read aloud, to an undoubting audience by the doubtful light of the closing evening, or, in silence, by a decaying taper, and amidst the solitude of a half-lighted apartment, it may redeem its character as a good ghost-story." Time to sit by the fire and start reading! show less

Bravo, Valancourt, you've outdone yourselves with this collection. Editor Tara Moore, author of Victorian Christmas in Print, should also be given major pats on the back for her outstanding work here. Each story begins with a brief introduction to the author, along with a brief note or two as to where his or her story first appeared in print. And for people like me who are afflicted with full-on geekiness, every now and then there's the added bonus of footnotes providing references for show more further study.

According to the editor's introduction,

"The season of Christmas coincides with the shortest days of the year, and for middle-class Victorians, a chance for families to reconnect in story-telling circles. Urban dwellers, disconnected from village legends, simply picked up a magazine specially made to lace children's dreams with terror. The bleak, shadow-filled walk from the story circle to one's dark bedroom presented an uncomfortably eerie space to reflect on the mental images conveyed by those grisly tales."

The 1820s and the 1830s saw the rise in popularity of the Christmas literary annual, and special periodicals began to appear, their publishers either printing "special Christmas numbers or simply tailoring their December and January numbers for Christmas reading, and that meant ghosts."

As to the thirteen (!) stories included here, while a few are listed as having been from "anonymous" authors, true-blue fans of the Victorian ghost story will definitely recognize the names of most of these writers:

1. "The Tapestried Chamber," by Sir Walter Scott
2. "The Old Nurse's Story," by Elizabeth Gaskell
3. "Horror: A True Tale," by John Berwood Harwick
4. "Bring Me a Light!" by Anonymous
5. "Old Hooker's Ghost," by Anonymous
6. "The Ghost's Summons," by Ada Buisson
7. "Jack Layford's Friend," by Anonymous
8. "How Peter Parley Laid a Ghost," by Anyonymous
9. "A Mysterious Visitor," by Ellen Wood
10. "The Haunted Rock," by W.W. Fenn
11. "The Lady's Walk," by Margaret Oliphant
12. "The Captain of the Pole-Star," by Arthur Conan Doyle
13. "The Doll's Ghost," by F. Marion Crawford

My advice: snuggle up with a cup of your favorite hot brew, wrap up in a cozy blanket, light a fire in the fireplace, and prepare to be transported out of this world and back through time. While it is a perfect book for Christmas reading, it's also ideal for any other time of the year. It is a lovely book, and most definitely now a treasured part of my own personal collection.

beyond recommended, especially to people who share my unquenchable ardor for Victorian ghost stories. show less

This is my first read by author Tara Moore, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I shouldn't have worried though, because I've found yet another author to add to my top favorites. The mystery in itself was good and different, though that wasn't what made this book stand out in my mind. The thing that kept me from being able to put this book down was the protagonist, DI Jessica Wideacre. She is a hardworking, take-no-nonsense, live-and-breathe-for-the-job DI--that's her superwoman side. Her human show more side includes a marriage that's falling apart, a boss she constantly butts heads with, a family from hell she can't escape, and a mouth that gets her into more trouble than she can sometimes handle. All this adds up to an amazing character, full of surprises and passion. I can't wait to read more DI Wideacre books by Tara Moore. show less

The Captain of the “Pole-star” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle I love me some Conan Doyle, but not this one. I’m not a fan of Arctic settings, nor of stories that take place at sea, so this was a double whammy against me liking it. Add to that, it isn’t really a spooky ghost story, so much as a second hand account of ghost sightings and their results.

In my opinion, Conan Doyle’s The Haunted Grange of Grosthorpe is a far superior ghost story.

How Peter Parley Laid a Ghost by Anonymous My show more first thought as I started reading this – a story aimed at Victorian children – was that the writing shines a sorry light on the state of today’s education. I doubt many children today would be able to pass a reading comprehension quiz based on this story, purely based on the vocabulary. I could be wrong, but the writing here is certainly more sophisticated than that of most of today’s books aimed at adults.

This story was better than Conan Doyle’s Captain of the Pole-Star; more interesting, amusing, and frankly, better written. But it’s still not a true ghost story; it’s a morality tale aimed at the folly of superstition. In this context, it’s a brilliant story; in the context of a spooky ghost story … not so much. show less