RIDDELL, Charlotte
Haunted Houses [Charlotte Ridell]

Featuring two novels from a popular and influential writer of the 19th Century, selected by an expert of popular fiction, these are bona fide Victorian ghost stories with a twist - exceptionally well-written with a comic turn.

From the once-popular yet unfairly neglected Victorian writer Charlotte Riddell comes a pair of novels which cleverly upholster the familiar furniture of the ‘haunted house’ story.

In ‘An Uninhabited House’, the hauntings are seen through the perspective of the solicitors who hold the deed of the property. Here we find a shrewd comedic skewering of this host of scriveners and clerks, and a realist approach to the consequences of a ‘haunted house’ – how does one let such a property? Slowly the safer world of commerce and law gives way as the encounter with the supernatural entity becomes more and more unavoidable…

In ‘Fairy Water’, Riddell again subverts the expectations of the reader, suggesting a complex moral character for her haunting spirit. Once again, her writing style is succinct and witty, rendering the story a spirited and approachable read despite its age.

[publisher's note]

Published by British Library, 2021
Design by Mauricio Villamayor
Literature