Gothic Tales by Elizabeth Gaskell

Gothic Tales Reviews

• 
  Salma

  Dickens once called her his 'darling Scheherazade' so of course I had to check out Elizabeth Gaskell's Gothic Tales Overshadowed in today's literature classes by her contemporaries George Eliot and the Bronte sisters Gaskell was a popular author in her time This brilliant collection shows the reason Reading the title I was expecting I see dead people stuff layered with poetic nineteenth century language The first story The Old Nurse's Tale does deal with that a creepy little girl haunting the moors Cathy Earnshaw anyone? But the tales are 'Gothic' in that they deal with the dark side of human nature than the supernatural Gaskell with her intense beautiful prose explores the themes of oppression hatred and general human cruelty in this collection At times the reading gets a bit weighed down with her liberal use of local dialects and for the stories taking place in the 17th and 18th centuries I kept getting a headache weeding through the 'thees' and 'thous' But that's minor compared to the impact these tales had on me Summary of my favorites as follows Lois the Witch this is the most disturbing and powerful of the stories taking place in Salem during witch hunt time the story follows the main character as she's accused of withcraft in a town that's teeming with Puritan zealotism and sexual repression the two things that give rise to the witchcraft hysteria In a way I was saddened to realize that this story still resonates today as every generation has its own witch hunts The Poor Clare This story does have a bit of a supernatural feel to it a doppelganger shows up as a result of a curse go to Wikipedia to look up the word Interesting stuff The story had to do with the theme of sin and salvation and extreme ascetism as a cure for bad deeds I can't say I necessarily agree with that remedy but hey Gaskell was a minister's wife The Grey Woman Taking place around the French Revolution the story follows Anna the German daughter of a miller when she marries as she calls him a beautiful and effeminate Frenchman This one turns into a truly terrifying tale when we find out the Frenchman's secret and his danger to Anna I think this tale is one that especially captures marriage of earlier centuries as essential traps for women The Doom of the Griffiths Can a curse peter down through the generations? I took this one as Gaskell's take on the story of Oedipus and various Greek tragedies If you can brave through the sometimes heavy handed language I think this collection of tales is one that must be on everyone's Classic Lit bookshelf
• 
  Ilana

  The Old Nurse's Story about a beautiful ghost child intent on luring a warm blooded child into the freezing nights on the moors; The Suire's Story about a gentleman with a nebulous past who moves into a grand house and marries a local belle only to reveal a sordid secret; The Poor Clare about an old woman who casts a spell which results in a lovely young woman being followed by her evil and seductive double; Lois the Witch a terrifying and heartbreaking reprise of the Salem witch trials out of nine stories in all seven of them held me captive in this collection which is uite an excellent average in any short story collection I've read some of Elizabeth Gaskell's novels and been highly impressed with her social commentary and vivid portrayals of class conflicts but here we see an altogether different side of Gaskell's writing which is the one she felt free to show with an assumed name under the cover of anonymity No longer constricted by propriety she was able to show a world operating beneath that thin veneer that Victorian morals dictated and through the looking glass curses which held their sway over many generations women with witchy powers or who were assumed to be witches because of their barely hidden sexuality men who wreaked true evil and cruelty and death by overreaching their powers in a paternalistic society and yet also and always a woman's love and nurturing as her strongest defence against many of those evils Two sides then to Elizabeth Gaskell Two sides very much worth discovering I predict there will be EG in my reading future and that I will return to some of my favourites in this story collection too
• 
  Cathy

  Better known now for her novels such as Mary Barton and Cranford Elizabeth Gaskell became popular in her own time for her ghost stories aided by Charles Dickens who published her work in his magazine Household Words The stories in this collection date from 1851 to 1861Like many short story collections some of the stories are stronger than others I wouldn’t say any of them are particularly scary but in the best of them there is certainly an unsettling air and a sense of the Gothic Common features include mysterious disappearances revenge in the form of curses inherited down through generations family rifts ghostly visitations heroines in peril and gloomy manor houses or chateauxStories I particularly enjoyed were‘Lois the Witch’ – in which the reader gets a bad feeling for the fortunes of the heroine Lois as soon as it becomes clear she’s headed for 17th century Salem and that not everyone is pleased to see her‘The Old Nurse’s Story’ – in which a ghostly presence roams the freezing Northumberland moors‘The Poor Clare’ – in which an evil double the result of a woman’s bitter curse haunts future generations‘The Grey Woman’ – featuring a full on Gothic chateau complete with dark passages and sealed off wings and a husband of dubious moral characterGothic Tales is a book on my Classics Club list and my book for the Classic Club’s October Dare which involved reading a book from your list that classified as thrilling a mystery Gothic or a book or author that SCARED you because of its length it’s topic it’s reputation etc
• 
  Obsidian

  This is another bust for my Gothic suare read I just ended up DNFing it at 22 percent I really didn't want to torture myself with continuing to read thisThe introduction was really long and I skipped over it These were the stories that I finished and readDisappearances 3 stars It starts off listing random disappearances of men in the area And I thought there would be a big pay off in the end Instead it just came to an abrupt endThe Old Nurse's Story 4 stars I thought it was interesting reading about how an old woman did what she could at a younger age to keep her young charge safe from phantoms that haunted the grounds The backstory to these phantoms was interesting and I still wonder though at the new lord of the house who didn't seem put out by the hauntingsThe Poor Clare 1 star I did not understand this one at all I finally just gave up after re reading it through twice I tried to start the next story and found myself yawning and decided to just stop reading I am annoyed I paid 999 for this kindle version since this is rife with typos all over that have ibid page XX and whatever page number was in there The book also had footnotes all through it and when you would click on one it did not take you back to where you left off in the book Every single time I hit the back arrow I would get kicked out of the book So my frustration with the typos the footnotes littered on every sentence just made me finally decide to throw in the white towel of surrender
• 
  Lucia

  Gothic Tales I think the adjective Gothic in the title is misleading these are tales of the uncanny They deal with the inexplicable with the truth which lies in legends and with the extraordinary which can affect real life in a few words Elizabeth Gaskell devoted herself to what cannot be grasped about human nature and mind Enough to love each of these tales but unfortunately I did not get the same vibes throughout I happened to struggle with the narrative which was at times flat though I was intrigued by the leitmotif of the double or counterpartMy favourite tale was The Old Nurse's Story I am not keen on the supernatural but the narrative techniue the storyline the rising tension and the setting were absolutely perfect
• 
  DeAnna Knippling

  A series of tales about the darker side of human natureList of talesThe Old Nurse's StoryThe Suire's StoryThe Poor ClareThe Doom of the GriffithsThe Crooked BranchCurious if TrueThe Grey WomanFor people with nostalgia the past acuires a rosy glow; for others that rosy glow is merely the imaginary light cast by the nostalgics and they themselves can see only dirt grime and suffering As it turns out the latter group tends to be the accurate of the two These are stories written from that darker turn of mind If they're a bit long in the paragraph at times they're still readable and enjoyable I was pleasantly surprised with how good they were chalk it up to another case of good writers being dismissed as second rate in favor of the ones in the canonA couple of stories were pleasant to read but not all that memorable Others stuck in mind The Old Nurse's Story is about a frozen child who tries to lure another child to her death and feels very much like The Turn of the Screw and may in fact be referenced in that later story I can't remember now Lois the Witch is the tale of an outsider in Salem surrounded by family who have to take her in after the death of her mother I think my favorite was The Poor Clare about a woman whose curse turns against her progeny I've read The Crooked Branch before in mystery anthologies as wellRecommend this for readers of gothic horror fiction those looking for early tales of crime mystery and suspense and readers digging into early feminist works
• 
  Erin

  Most of these gothic tales are really entertaining especially the Old Nurse's Story but some of the others I could have done without Gaskell seems to be popular for her realist victorian fiction and her biography of Charlotte Bronte which I have yet to read not these gothic tales but they are definitely worth reading
• 
  Cindy Newton

  This is a nice collection of stories with varying degrees of creepiness My favorite is the first The Old Nurse's Story It actually IS pretty creepy I was pleasantly surprised by the elements of horror incorporated Definitely worth a read The rest are not nearly as scary with some lacking any element of horror All are well told and worth the read
• 
  Cirtnecce

  “Gothic Tales” is an anthology of all works mystery gothic and horror genre written by Elizabeth Gaskell between 1851 and 1861 published mostly in Household Words and the Christmas special edition of All Year Round Elizabeth Gaskell with her complete flexibility and virtuosity of the art weaves tales which are old legends like “Disappearances” as well as a ghastly ghostly tale of a secret marriage and a mysterious child that roams the freezing Northumberland in “The Old Nurse’s Tale” There is an absolutely terrifying doppelganger and threatens the future of the one person the witch who gave the curse loves in “The Poor Clare” “Lois the Witch” is a sympathetic take on the young women accused of witchcraft in the Salem Witch hunt in 16th Century Another sympathetic and heartbreaking novella is the “Crooked Branch” a tragic tale of love gone awry “The Doom of the Griffiths” is also a sympathetic narrative of loneliness filial love and loyalty Then there is “Curious if True’ a fun and extremely weird narrative that includes all famous fairy tale characters including Cinderella Sleeping Beauty Puss in Boots Beauty and the Beast etc The other novellas include “The Suire’s tale” and “The Grey Woman” stories about ruthless highway men and chases across countries The book is a brilliant collection of all kinds of weird tales some downright scary and others plain bizarre and yet others which points to utter foolishness of men and women in believing in stupid superstitious nonsense Each tale is distinctive and is located in a different time and different geographies We move between England United States Netherlands Germany and travel between 17th to 19th centuries These are not short stories but novellas and reading one does take time simply because of the lovely details Ms Gaskell has put in Like a storyteller from old I realize that she is from the old she sits around the fire and tells you the story in a “once upon a time” style There is no rushing no get to the point in her tale no breathtaking actions; but a slow meandering walk in which you follow her lead and suddenly you are in the middle of thick events If you want fast paced adventure she is not for you but like a wine if you savor this book slow well get ready to sleep with the lights turned on This collection than ever convinces me of the extreme brilliance of Ms Gaskell she is completely in her element writing a North and South and can turn her eye eually masterfully to satire; Cranford being the prime example And now Gothic Tales is a testimony to the fact that an author need not really have a declared “genre” as long as he or she had a great tale to tell and knows how to create the atmosphere and evoke the reader’s imagination with use of words
• 
  Dark-Draco

  I was really looking forward to picking this up and was instantly disappointed by the first story 'Disappearances' which was less of a story and of a loose collection of missing person reports My heart sank and with trepidation I turned the page to try one and am so glad I dis as the collection immediately got better by a factor of 110'The Old Nurse's Story' remains my favourite A disturbing chilling story of a dead child hunting the house where she was thrown from There is something poignant and appealing about it's simple telling that makes it so much scarier than modern slasher ghost storiesOf the other stories 'The Poor Clare' is the only one with a really supernatural twist curses and witches combine with a tragic love story to make a bloody good read Witches are also the theme of 'Lois the Witch' as you'd expect but there are no magic powers here just an innocent caught up in the hysteria of the Salem trials I also enjoyed 'Curious but True' a case of mistaken identity that leads the narrator into the secret world of fairy tale characters The other stories not mentioned here were also good but these are the ones that stick in my mind the mostOverall I am so glad that I picked this up to read a change from Gaskell's pastoral novels Reminds my very mush of the first time I read a MR James ghost story that same delicious sense of shivering down the spine