Gothic Tales (Penguin Classics)

Chilling tales that blend the real and the supernatural to eerie, compelling effect

Victorian author Elizabeth Gaskell combines historical incidents and otherworldly tales in this collection of classic Gothic stories. "Disappearances," inspired by local legends of mysterious vanishings, mixes gossip and fact; while "Lois the Witch," a novella based on an account of the Salem witch hunts, shows how sexual desire and jealousy lead to hysteria. In "The Old Nurse's Story," a mysterious child roams the freezing Northumberland moors; in "The Poor Clare," an evil doppelgänger is formed by a woman's bitter curse; and "Curious, if True," features a playful reworking of fairy tales. Whether darkly surreal or micheievous, all the stories in this volume form a stark contrast to the social realism of Gaskell's novels, revealing a darker and more unsettling style of writing.

Laura Kranzler's introduction discusses how Gaskell's tales, with their ghostly doublings and transgressive passions, show the Gothic underside of female identity, domestic relations and male authority. This edition also contains a chronology, further reading and explanatory notes.