The Wind in the Rose-Bush: And Other Stories of the Supernatural

ISBN-10
154658546X
ISBN-13
9781546585466
Series
The Wind in the Rose-Bush
Pages
164
Language
English
Published
2017-05-09
Authors
Mary Eleanor Freeman, Mary Wilknis

Description

"Wonderfully artistic and enthralling tales of the supernatural." -Vanity Fair "Mary E. Wilkins has produced some really astonishing results in the way of mysteries in the book of short stories which she calls 'The Wind in the Rose-Bush, and Other Tales of the Supernatural.' Without the use of the element of horror that characterizes Bulwer-Lytton's 'The House and the Brain' or the word of Poe in the same field, relying rather upon terror, so different a sentiment, she constructs out of the ordinary, commonplace, everyday life of New England a number of episodes that will send the most hardened to bed with an uneasy glance behind. It is inevitably crime, or something closely akin to crime, that lies behind her various weirdnesses; but she has the wise economy of narration which refuses to disclose most of these deeds of shame, and her work may fairly be called engrossing." -The Dial "When opening a book by Miss Wilkins, the last thing the reader expects is that she will 'freeze his young blood,' or 'make his two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres,' but this is just what will happen to him during the perusal of 'The Wind in the Rose Bush.' There is something horrifying about the ghosts which belong to a new country and new houses They are too recent. The ghost which lived three hundred years ago is a piece of picturesque 'property' enriching the scene of an old and historic house. But to find among us the modern spirit, already returned from the bourn to which he only traveled some time last year, is not to be borne. Miss Wilkins's ghosts are all intolerable just in this way. The wind which blows about the rose-bush on a calm day, the dreadful child who brings back to their owners articles left about the house, the wicked old woman whose face is reflected in the looking-glass, replacing that of the woman who looks in, - each and all signify the return of the recently dead. Miss Wilkins writes with such calm and deliberate detail that she goes far towards convincing her readers of the truth of each story in turn; and he will be a bold man who, finishing the book late at night, will go to bed without glancing several times behind him." -The Spectator "Miss Wilkins displays a rare skill in the invention of six of the most attractively repellent ghost stories we ever read. These tales, however, have in them nothing that is commonplace or vulgar, unless it be right so to designate some of the honest, kindly folk who serve as foils to the fearful phantoms and still more dreadful doers-of-evil figuring in the book. From each of these tales may be learnt a moral lesson calculated to have all the more lasting effect, because, the tale having once been read, it is impossible to forget the horror of it." -The Publishers' Circular and Booksellers' Record "There is a certain matter-of-fact realism in these ghost stories that gives one the desired shock of horror when it is least expected. The stage is not darkened, apparently no preparations have been made for a drama of the supernatural, when suddenly the most commonplace object or event betrays shamelessly somebody's trust in the sanity of common life. A mysterious odor of cabbage becomes a warning, bed-hangings change their pattern unwarrantably, a bush shakes when the wind is still, and immediately the spirits have their way with you." -The Unitarian Register Contents The Wind in the Rose-bush The Shadows on the Wall Luella Miller The Southwest Chamber The Vacant Lot The Lost Ghost

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