The Bishop of Hell and Other Stories

An excellent collection of tales by an early twentieth century writer. Ms. Bowen was also a historical novelist, and she set all but two of these stories in the past. She had a gift for creating people who were often more frightening than the supernatural element.

The best tales, to my taste, were: "The Fair Hair of Ambrosine," a grim tale of fate; "The Crown Derby Plate," which showed a deliciously nasty sense of humor; "Elsie's Lonely Afternoon," a Katherine Mansfield-ish tale with a nasty twist; "The Bishop of Hell," with the most despicable of her rakehell villains; "The Scoured Silk," a tale that any reader of true crime stores knows is not impossible; and "Kecksie," a masterpiece so enjoyably depraved that I was surprised she could show more publish it even in the 1920s. show less

“The Bishop of Hell and Other Stories” isn’t likely to persuade you to sleep with the light on, but every so often you may experience a few shivers.

While there’s no full-blown horror here, we do have some quality tales filled with an eerie atmosphere and suspense. Most stories have a good twist and all are vividly told.

I think setting them in the 1800s or earlier adds to the supernatural feel. The characters can’t just flick on an electric light or grab a mobile phone to ring the police. They have to deal with the unknown, usually in the dark.

Of the nine tales, only two disappointed me. “The Fair Hair of Ambrosine” lacked narrative engagement, and as it went on, the ending became predictable. “Mr John Proudie” has show more moments of intrigue, but I found the ending anticlimactic.

My favourite stories were “Florence Flannery” and “The Crown Derby Plate”. The latter has one of the most unexpected twists at the end.

“Florence Flannery” has brilliant atmospheric scenes, superb characterisation, and is engaging from start to finish. An aspect to this could’ve come across as laughable, but the author handles it so well that it’s creepy and – in a supernatural sense – believable. Setting it in 1800 makes it much more appealing.

A very good collection. show less

I’m a big fan of the Wordsworth Tales of Mystery & the Supernatural series, but the Marjorie Bowen anthology, The Bishop of Hell & Other Stories, is one entry in the series that I really struggled to get through. Most of these twelve stories are predictable, pedestrian tales, of little style, substance, or atmosphere. As I was reading, each story had an air of familiarity in some way or other. It was an odd feeling; and then each time I suddenly realized that Bowen is repeating herself with her thematic strokes: multiple stories of self-fulfilling prophecy, of unhappy marriages, of womanizing cads, of murderous revenge; and a pair of stories that both begin by basically saying that “this strange tale that follows needed to be show more stitched together from various sources...”. It’s just a bit off-putting, and perhaps an indication that the author did not have a lot of fresh ideas and therefore lifted from her prior work. Ultimately it says that the weird fiction genre was not a strong suit in her literary output.

While most of the stories barely moved the needle for me, there were a few that were compelling: (1) “Elsie’s Lonely Room” - A sad story about a little girl’s miserable life, with an even sadder gut-punch ending; (2) “The Adventure of Mr John Proudie” - Strange visitors one night intrude on the mundane life of a meek apothecary, who then witnesses some ghastly occurrences. The story is actually rather tame, but it is suspenseful and well-paced, and titling it an “adventure” playfully underscores just how unremarkable Mr John Proudie’s life actually was. (3) “The Scoured Silk” - an excellent horror story in which young Elisa Minden, soon to be wed to the older Humphrey Orford, becomes frightened and suspicious as her fiancé displays some unusual quirks, particularly with regard to his first wife, who died under mysterious circumstances some twenty years earlier. show less

These short stories are often of a historical nature and vary pretty widely in their content, from outright hauntings to uncanny events to the merely disturbing. Some were outstanding ("The Scoured Silk" is one of the most interesting and unsettling stories of my acquaintance, and I really liked the Lovecraftian overtones of "Florence Flannery") while others didn't really do it for me (a "meh" goes to "The Bishop of Hell," "The Fair Hair of Ambrosine," and "The Avenging of Anne Leete").

Bowen's language is excellent, her atmosphere satisfying, and her variety enjoyable. She's conversant with 18th-19th century Gothic tropes but updates them or plays with them in interesting ways. I don't know why I didn't rate this book a bit higher, but show more for me the ratio of excellent stories wasn't quite high enough. It was definitely an enjoyable read, though. show less

We have here a fine collection of Ghostly tales from a largely forgotten exponent of the genre. Marjorie Bowen's collection of 12 short stories,which are all first-rate,include my particular favourites, 'The Crown Derby Plate','The Housekeeper',and 'The Scoured Silk'. Also included in this edition is a short but informative Biographical note and an introduction by Bowen's son.A first-class read for anyone interested in ghost stories. Highly recommended.