Couching at the Door: Strange and Macabre Tales

Couching at the Door is an anthology of nine of D. K. Broster’s supernatural tales. The title story, first up in this collection, is not indicative of the author’s usual straightforward style. Here, Broster’s narrative is perfectly ornate and flowery with its pinkie perpetually raised in clear and precise mimicry of the flamboyance of the main character, the pretentious, decadent, and dandified poet Augustine Marchand. And the story itself is a memorable one, as Marchand’s plan to rid himself of a black magic curse (or are those infernal wriggling creatures merely hallucinatory?) has unexpected consequences. A most frightening story, very well-executed on all levels.

And most of the remaining tales are also quite engaging and show more effective supernatural excursions. “From the Abyss” is perhaps the best, a little masterpiece of cinematic writing in which a woman transforms into physically split personalities after a horrific automobile accident. It’s fast-paced and builds to a stunning climax. Another highlight is “The Promised Land”, an intriguing psychological study of accelerating madness, wherein a meek elderly woman, exasperated by her well-meaning but irritating travel companion, goes to extreme lengths to enjoy a few days on holiday in Italy on her own terms. “The Taste of Pomegranates” is an interesting (albeit a bit melodramatic) time travel story with a neat Twilight Zone twist at the end. Not all of the stories, however, are up to those standards. "The Pestering" is a decidely pedestrian ghost story, somewhat promising at the start but ending with a very meager payoff. show less

Only one duffer in this book for my money, and even then it's less of a duffer and more of a slightly hackneyed attempt at the haunted house story others have done better in the past (plus it has the faintly ludicrous title "The Pestering"). Otherwise this is surprisingly strong stuff, with the emphasis on the macabre rather than straightforward spook or weird tales. Broster's a really enjoyable writer on her own merits and it's a nice bonus that her supernatural fiction is for the most part bang on the money. Quietly very impressive indeed

An astonishingly good collection of stories by the obscure Broster. Well worth seeking out. The stories are never dull and there is enough variety here for a good read. There isn't a dud in this slim volume and even the few stories sans the supernatural are fine. The writing is literate and the romance never silly. There is some uniqueness as well. Broster has a fine feel for real suspense but I won't ruin the stories by any sort of plot synopsis.

I sometimes find these volumes by obscure authors to be, well to be truthful, justifiably obscure, but not in this case. Wordsworth does a good job of bringing some of these hard to find public domain collections of the uncanny in an affordable, handsome, mmpb format.

A great find.