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Gothic Tales
'Such whispered tales, such old temptations and hauntings, and devilish terrors'
Elizabeth Gaskell's chilling Gothic tales blend the real and the supernatural to eerie, compelling effect. 'Disappearances', inspired by local legends of mysterious vanishings, mixes gossip and fact; 'Lois the Witch', a novella based on an account of the Salem witch hunts, shows how sexual desire and jealousy lead to hysteria; while in 'The Old Nurse's Story' a mysterious child roams the freezing Northumberland moors. Whether darkly surreal, such as 'The Poor Clare', where an evil doppelganger is formed by a woman's bitter curse, or mischievous like 'Curious, if True', a playful reworking of fairy tales, all the pieces in this volume form a start 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.
Elizabeth Gaskell's chilling Gothic tales blend the real and the supernatural to eerie, compelling effect. 'Disappearances', inspired by local legends of mysterious vanishings, mixes gossip and fact; 'Lois the Witch', a novella based on an account of the Salem witch hunts, shows how sexual desire and jealousy lead to hysteria; while in 'The Old Nurse's Story' a mysterious child roams the freezing Northumberland moors. Whether darkly surreal, such as 'The Poor Clare', where an evil doppelganger is formed by a woman's bitter curse, or mischievous like 'Curious, if True', a playful reworking of fairy tales, all the pieces in this volume form a start 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.
367 pages, Paperback
Published February 1, 2001
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About the author
Elizabeth Gaskell
1,019books3,577followersElizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, née Stevenson (29 September 1810 � 12 November 1865), often referred to simply as Mrs. Gaskell, was an English novelist and short story writer during the Victorian era. Her novels offer a detailed portrait of the lives of many strata of society, including the very poor, and as such are of interest to social historians as well as lovers of literature.
AKA:
Елізабет Гаскелл (Ukrainian)
AKA:
Елізабет Гаскелл (Ukrainian)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 263 reviews
October 27, 2021
Such a wonderful collection, with some real gems. My favourites are The Grey Woman and The Old Nurse's Story.
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February 6, 2022So What’s It About?
Victorian author Elizabeth Gaskell is primarily known for her biography of her close friend Charlotte Brontë as well as her novels, the majority of which are female-led and feature examinations of industrialization and class inequality. She also wrote a number of ghost stories and stories in the Gothic tradition, and several of these are gathered in this collection.
What I Thought
Disappearances -no shade, Mrs. Gaskell, but I have absolutely no idea what this was supposed to be. It’s just a haphazard collection of stories and snippets of stories about people going missing. It’s a cool enough premise but there’s no Victorian Dyatlov Pass in this collection � the stories are incredibly brief and not very interesting or juicy at all.
The Old Nurse’s Story � I read this one for last year’s Spookening as it was a part of The Mammoth Book of Ghost Stories by Women. It held up this year � old women with regrets and vicious secrets, icy moors, organs playing in the night and a haunted little girl. This collection has a recurring theme of abusive, violent men and the first one makes his appearance here in the form of the ghosts� murderer, their proud and cruel father and grandfather.
The Squire’s Story- a robber buys a house, gets married and then inexplicably confesses to one of his robberies that ended in a murder. I think this one could have been really good if it had delved into the murderer’s guilty psyche a la Bill Sykes in Oliver Twist, but as it was actually executed that didn’t happen at all so the story fell flat to me.
The Poor Clare � this story involves a witch’s curse, lost love and a young woman’s ghostly doppleganger that everyone says is soooooooo evil but really just seems to like playing pranks and trying to have sex. I guess by Victorian standards is was pretty evil for an unmarried young woman (or female-presenting ghostly doppleganger) to want that� I used to read basically nothing but Victorian literature but I’ve been away from it for a while and this story’s love interest was a reminder of just how utterly boring, spineless and lifeless female characters can be in Victorian lit. It was pretty unbearable.
The Doom of the Griffiths � here we have a family curse, a deeply and annoyingly self-pitying main character, lots and lots of telling rather than showing and another child killed by a vengeful grandfather.
Lois the Witch � I read this book after The Year of the Witching so I already had Puritans on the brain. Gaskell does a great job of depicting colonial New England’s sexual repression, stringent piety and overwhelming emphasis on morality and purity. She also does an excellent job of depicting the hypocrisy, paranoia and panic that lay at the heart of witch hunting. As a final note, Gaskell made some interesting statements about the injustice of what British settlers did to indigenous people in the U.S…while also unfortunately calling the indigenous servant in this story a savage.
The Crooked Branch � a man with doting parents goes wrong and manipulates said doting parents out of all their money before robbing them and breaking their hearts. Did I mention that a lot of stories in this collection were really, really depressing?
Curious, If True � this one features classic fairy tale characters hilariously reinterpreted. It was really fun but also had the worst ending of the bunch because it was so incredibly abrupt.
The Grey Woman � a young woman trapped in an abusive marriage learns a deadly secret about her husband and runs for her life with her beloved nurse. Because of the novel I’m writing I’ve been reading a lot about Victorian conceptualizations of marital abuse and it was actually quite progressive of Gaskell to write a story where a man’s emotional (rather than just physical) abuse was denounced and the woman was portrayed as being in the right for abandoning him. In addition, it was somewhat rare for an abused woman to get anything remotely resembling a happy ending in fiction instead of dying tragically, so the fact that she survives in this story and remarries a kind man was quite progressive too. Her terror endures, however, and I wouldn’t say that the ending of her story is truly happy. Gaskell does a great job of depicting her isolation, fear, helplessness and desperation.
Victorian author Elizabeth Gaskell is primarily known for her biography of her close friend Charlotte Brontë as well as her novels, the majority of which are female-led and feature examinations of industrialization and class inequality. She also wrote a number of ghost stories and stories in the Gothic tradition, and several of these are gathered in this collection.
What I Thought
Disappearances -no shade, Mrs. Gaskell, but I have absolutely no idea what this was supposed to be. It’s just a haphazard collection of stories and snippets of stories about people going missing. It’s a cool enough premise but there’s no Victorian Dyatlov Pass in this collection � the stories are incredibly brief and not very interesting or juicy at all.
The Old Nurse’s Story � I read this one for last year’s Spookening as it was a part of The Mammoth Book of Ghost Stories by Women. It held up this year � old women with regrets and vicious secrets, icy moors, organs playing in the night and a haunted little girl. This collection has a recurring theme of abusive, violent men and the first one makes his appearance here in the form of the ghosts� murderer, their proud and cruel father and grandfather.
The Squire’s Story- a robber buys a house, gets married and then inexplicably confesses to one of his robberies that ended in a murder. I think this one could have been really good if it had delved into the murderer’s guilty psyche a la Bill Sykes in Oliver Twist, but as it was actually executed that didn’t happen at all so the story fell flat to me.
The Poor Clare � this story involves a witch’s curse, lost love and a young woman’s ghostly doppleganger that everyone says is soooooooo evil but really just seems to like playing pranks and trying to have sex. I guess by Victorian standards is was pretty evil for an unmarried young woman (or female-presenting ghostly doppleganger) to want that� I used to read basically nothing but Victorian literature but I’ve been away from it for a while and this story’s love interest was a reminder of just how utterly boring, spineless and lifeless female characters can be in Victorian lit. It was pretty unbearable.
The Doom of the Griffiths � here we have a family curse, a deeply and annoyingly self-pitying main character, lots and lots of telling rather than showing and another child killed by a vengeful grandfather.
Lois the Witch � I read this book after The Year of the Witching so I already had Puritans on the brain. Gaskell does a great job of depicting colonial New England’s sexual repression, stringent piety and overwhelming emphasis on morality and purity. She also does an excellent job of depicting the hypocrisy, paranoia and panic that lay at the heart of witch hunting. As a final note, Gaskell made some interesting statements about the injustice of what British settlers did to indigenous people in the U.S…while also unfortunately calling the indigenous servant in this story a savage.
The Crooked Branch � a man with doting parents goes wrong and manipulates said doting parents out of all their money before robbing them and breaking their hearts. Did I mention that a lot of stories in this collection were really, really depressing?
Curious, If True � this one features classic fairy tale characters hilariously reinterpreted. It was really fun but also had the worst ending of the bunch because it was so incredibly abrupt.
The Grey Woman � a young woman trapped in an abusive marriage learns a deadly secret about her husband and runs for her life with her beloved nurse. Because of the novel I’m writing I’ve been reading a lot about Victorian conceptualizations of marital abuse and it was actually quite progressive of Gaskell to write a story where a man’s emotional (rather than just physical) abuse was denounced and the woman was portrayed as being in the right for abandoning him. In addition, it was somewhat rare for an abused woman to get anything remotely resembling a happy ending in fiction instead of dying tragically, so the fact that she survives in this story and remarries a kind man was quite progressive too. Her terror endures, however, and I wouldn’t say that the ending of her story is truly happy. Gaskell does a great job of depicting her isolation, fear, helplessness and desperation.
February 7, 2009
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 more 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 more 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 more 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.
But the tales are 'Gothic' in that they deal with the dark side of human nature more 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 more 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 more 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.
December 13, 2016
Me gustó muchísimo 'Curioso, de ser cierto' y 'La mujer gris'.
'La burja Lois' también me resultó interesante, pero los demás no me han dado mucho más...
'La burja Lois' también me resultó interesante, pero los demás no me han dado mucho más...
October 22, 2018
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 Squire'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 quite 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 more 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 more E.G. in my reading future, and that I will return to some of my favourites in this story collection too.
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 more 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 more E.G. in my reading future, and that I will return to some of my favourites in this story collection too.
July 18, 2022
Desapariciones: 3 estrellas
La historia de la vieja niñera: 5 estrellas
La historia del caballero: 3 estrellas
La clarisa pobre: 4 estrellas
La maldición de los Griffiths: 4 estrellas
La bruja Lois: 5 estrellas
La rama torcida: 4 estrellas
Curioso, de ser cierto: 2 estrellas
La mujer gris: 5 estrellas
La historia de la vieja niñera: 5 estrellas
La historia del caballero: 3 estrellas
La clarisa pobre: 4 estrellas
La maldición de los Griffiths: 4 estrellas
La bruja Lois: 5 estrellas
La rama torcida: 4 estrellas
Curioso, de ser cierto: 2 estrellas
La mujer gris: 5 estrellas
October 31, 2018
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 1861.
Like 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 chateaux.
Stories 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 character
Gothic 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).
Like 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 chateaux.
Stories 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 character
Gothic 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).
September 24, 2023
Demoré bastante en leerlo, y algunos cuentos me gustaron más que otros. Pero la verdad es que es un libro que vale muchísimo la pena y el tiempo. Elizabeth Gaskell escribía maravilloso. Mis dos relatos favoritos fueron "La Clarisa pobre" y "La mujer gris", este último me mantuvo en tensión durante las casi 80 páginas de extensión.
October 29, 2023
Gaskell was such a versatile writer. I don't particularly enjoy ghost stories or horror but there were some successful ones in this collection.
September 25, 2016
This is another bust for my Gothic square read. I just ended up DNFing it at 22 percent. I really didn't want to torture myself with continuing to read this.
The introduction was really long and I skipped over it. These were the stories that I finished and read.
"Disappearances" (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 end.
"The 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 hauntings.
"The 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 $9.99 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.
The introduction was really long and I skipped over it. These were the stories that I finished and read.
"Disappearances" (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 end.
"The 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 hauntings.
"The 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 $9.99 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.
October 28, 2024
Some fantastic stories in here along with a couple that I wanted more from. I do, however find Gaskell's writing such a delight.
Highlight was undoubtedly Lois the witch - a fantastic story set in the 1600s Salem witch trials that I think is one of the better witch trial narratives I've read. Madness, grief, jealousy, religious fervour - it's a story that has it all and manages to convey so much in very few pages.
Highlight was undoubtedly Lois the witch - a fantastic story set in the 1600s Salem witch trials that I think is one of the better witch trial narratives I've read. Madness, grief, jealousy, religious fervour - it's a story that has it all and manages to convey so much in very few pages.
March 12, 2018
Muchas frases inmejorables. Hay un pulso literario magnífico en estos relatos. Son elegantes, precisos, tan pulcros como macabros. Es como si ocurriera lo oscuro insondable, el mal, a plena luz del mediodía. El gótico en esa tensión es magnífico. ¿El mal dónde está? Afuera, menos mal que entonces no soy yo parte del mal. Pero afuera, ¿dónde exactamente? Por todas partes, en las cosas, en lugares, no hay límites claros. Pero eso no puede ser. Entonces no es cierto que esté solamente allá afuera. Del miedo al horror.
October 30, 2021
Mixed batch of stories as almost always is the case with short story collections for me. I love Gaskell's writing style but some of these stories aren't as strong as hoped. My favourites from the collection are probably Lois the Witch and The Old Nurse's Story - both of them rereads. All of the stories have the deliciously gothic atmosphere and some of the stories managed to be quite spooky for my liking. All in all, I enjoyed the collection but none of these shine like Gaskell's novels. It would be an excellent place to start with Gaskell, though, if you don't want to commit to her longer works first.
October 16, 2021
A lot of stories that were alright with some highlights. I think my problem lies not as much with this collection than with gothic tales and old horror stories in general. The writing is quite typical of other stories of this genre I've read before, it feels old and dreary, except for Dissappearences and Curious if true, which had some more humor in it. The plots are more like urban legends than belivable stories with real people in it. There is a strong focus on creating atmosphere, though, which Gaskell nailed and I always felt transported to another time and place.
These particular stories are well written and certainly had their moments. Lois the Witch was the one story that I found to be really powerful and I felt with the protagonist all the way through. Other highlights were The Crooked Branch, which I had read before, and, surprisingly, Dissappearences.
These particular stories are well written and certainly had their moments. Lois the Witch was the one story that I found to be really powerful and I felt with the protagonist all the way through. Other highlights were The Crooked Branch, which I had read before, and, surprisingly, Dissappearences.
February 20, 2017
El libro es bastante irregular y, es que, al.ser 9 historias diferentes, unas gustan más que otras. Aunque debo de decir que algunas se me hicieron tediosas, por lo cual pasaba a la siguiente y ya después regresaba a terminarla.
Las historias que más me gustaron:
*La bruja Lois
*La mujer gris
*La Clarisa pobre (esta la leí en la madrugada, error. No paraba de imaginar la cara del demonio, ahhhhh).
Las historias que más me gustaron:
*La bruja Lois
*La mujer gris
*La Clarisa pobre (esta la leí en la madrugada, error. No paraba de imaginar la cara del demonio, ahhhhh).
August 30, 2020
Elizabeth Gaskell nació en Londres en 1810, hija de un pastor de la iglesia Unitaria Inglesa. Al fallecer su madre fue educada por una tía en el pueblo de Knutsford, Cheshire, que más adelante le serviría como inspiración para ambientar algunas de sus narraciones costumbristas. En 1832 se casó con un ministro unitario, y la pareja se estableció en Manchenster. Durante unos años , se dedicó a su familia y a la caridad. Inició su carrera literaria hasta 1845, después de la muerte de su primer hijo al poco tiempo de nacer. En 1848 publicó Mary Barton, lo que llevó a Charles Dickens a pedirle que colaborara en sus revistas. Siendo los relatos en este libro publicados entre 1851 y 1861. Se incluyen:
Disappearances
The old nurse’s story
The squire’s story
The poor Clare
The Doom of the Griffiths
Lois the witch
The cooked branch
Curious, if true
The grey woman
Si se topan con este libro no lo dejen pasar.
Disappearances
The old nurse’s story
The squire’s story
The poor Clare
The Doom of the Griffiths
Lois the witch
The cooked branch
Curious, if true
The grey woman
Si se topan con este libro no lo dejen pasar.
November 2, 2020
Todo un á imprescindible para los amantes del terror gótico. En estos cuentos encontraremos todos los elementos característicos del género (enormes y misteriosas mansiones, vegonzosos o terribles secretos familiares, emociones llevadas al límite...), escritos además por una autora que, aun siendo deudora de la época que le tocó vivir, no deja de tener una mirada bastante actual sobre ciertos temas y un fino sentido del humor.
Reseña en #ConsuLeo:
Reseña en #ConsuLeo:
March 5, 2025
Some good, some bad. Individual ratings below!😎
Disappearances: 3.5/5. More like disappointing. Feel like she dropped the ball on this one.😿
The Old Nurse’s Story: 5/5. Gripping tale, pretty good stuff. 🧙♀�
The Squire’s Story: 3/5. I don’t get it. Why was it included? 🧐
The Poor Clare: 4/5. It’s a banger. And a soap opera! 💃
The Doom of the Griffiths: 2/5. Just� no. Why does the author spend 5 pages describing the interior of a house? 🏠
Lois the Witch: 1.5/5. Too much talk of “Red Savages� for my liking. DNF 🤦
The Crooked Branch: 1/5. Cousins should not date. Cousins should not mate. That is just weird. It’s a no for me. 🙅♂�
Curious, if True: 0.5/5. DNF’d at the point the author explains how poor people are gross. Real quote: “what can be more ungenteel than poverty�??? 👨🏻�
The Grey Woman: 4/5. Nice domestic horror, although I didn’t find the plot twists to be that cool, and the story’s kinda banking on you doing so. 🤷
While the average rating I gave a story was 2.3, I’m rounding up to a 3. Maybe I have Stockholm Syndrome because I try to remember the good times with this book even though they were sparse! 😹
Disappearances: 3.5/5. More like disappointing. Feel like she dropped the ball on this one.😿
The Old Nurse’s Story: 5/5. Gripping tale, pretty good stuff. 🧙♀�
The Squire’s Story: 3/5. I don’t get it. Why was it included? 🧐
The Poor Clare: 4/5. It’s a banger. And a soap opera! 💃
The Doom of the Griffiths: 2/5. Just� no. Why does the author spend 5 pages describing the interior of a house? 🏠
Lois the Witch: 1.5/5. Too much talk of “Red Savages� for my liking. DNF 🤦
The Crooked Branch: 1/5. Cousins should not date. Cousins should not mate. That is just weird. It’s a no for me. 🙅♂�
Curious, if True: 0.5/5. DNF’d at the point the author explains how poor people are gross. Real quote: “what can be more ungenteel than poverty�??? 👨🏻�
The Grey Woman: 4/5. Nice domestic horror, although I didn’t find the plot twists to be that cool, and the story’s kinda banking on you doing so. 🤷
While the average rating I gave a story was 2.3, I’m rounding up to a 3. Maybe I have Stockholm Syndrome because I try to remember the good times with this book even though they were sparse! 😹
October 21, 2020
If you are in the mood of reading a good, sound eerie story, Elizabeth Gaskell’s collection of Gothic Tales is a must.
On one hand, you will find in it all the great themes and motives of the genre: the double (The Poor Clare, The Squire Story), the discovered manuscript (The Gray Woman), the power of the curse (Lois the Witch, The Doom of the Griffiths), the haunted house (The Old Nurse’s Story), the degenerate (The Crooked Branch), the mysterious disappearances (Disappearances).
On the other hand, the author will surprise you with the use of some clever and very modern narrative tools:
� the blending of reality and fiction (in Lois the Witch, for example, the declaration of guilt and remorse of the Salem jurors is copied word for word from the historical one);
� the ludic intertextuality (in Curious, if True we have a glimpse of the fairy tales heroes and heroines beyond “happily ever after� in which we see a plump Cinderella with swollen feet, a sleepwalking beauty in the sleeping woods, a forever mourning widow of the Bluebeard, a very annoyed with his master puss in boots and so on);
� the unreliable narrator who either cannot connect the dots (like Richard Whittingham from Curious, if True who fails either to see why everybody seems to think he is Dick Whittington or to identify the fairy-tale characters) or becomes too involved in his own story (like the attorney in The Poor Clare);
� the open work (in The Gray Woman there is a double opening, for neither the first narrator’s nor the second’s story is finished).
Once again, I cannot help but marvel at how incredibly talented and how modern these nineteenth century women writers still are!
On one hand, you will find in it all the great themes and motives of the genre: the double (The Poor Clare, The Squire Story), the discovered manuscript (The Gray Woman), the power of the curse (Lois the Witch, The Doom of the Griffiths), the haunted house (The Old Nurse’s Story), the degenerate (The Crooked Branch), the mysterious disappearances (Disappearances).
On the other hand, the author will surprise you with the use of some clever and very modern narrative tools:
� the blending of reality and fiction (in Lois the Witch, for example, the declaration of guilt and remorse of the Salem jurors is copied word for word from the historical one);
� the ludic intertextuality (in Curious, if True we have a glimpse of the fairy tales heroes and heroines beyond “happily ever after� in which we see a plump Cinderella with swollen feet, a sleepwalking beauty in the sleeping woods, a forever mourning widow of the Bluebeard, a very annoyed with his master puss in boots and so on);
� the unreliable narrator who either cannot connect the dots (like Richard Whittingham from Curious, if True who fails either to see why everybody seems to think he is Dick Whittington or to identify the fairy-tale characters) or becomes too involved in his own story (like the attorney in The Poor Clare);
� the open work (in The Gray Woman there is a double opening, for neither the first narrator’s nor the second’s story is finished).
Once again, I cannot help but marvel at how incredibly talented and how modern these nineteenth century women writers still are!
October 19, 2021
Stories of dread, menace, and the quotidian terror of patriarchy. A 3-star rating feels unfair, but it's only because it's a collection of stories, and some are simply better than others. Yet I think anyone who's read Gaskell before and knows of the ways in which she can pull a reader in will find lots here to think about and take pleasure in.
October 31, 2022
My favourites: The Old Nurse's Story, The Poor Clare, Lois the Witch, The Grey Woman
November 21, 2019
★★★☆�
Hace mucho tiempo que leo reseñas alabando la bibliografía de Elizabeth Gaskell y aprovechando que @albaeditorial sacaba en su colección minus este ejemplar para Halloween no lo dudé. Lo he podido leer en esas fechas (aunque al final me ha durado más ya que no es un libro para devorar rápido).
Tengo que decir que mi primer encuentro ha sido satisfactorio en rasgos generales pero no me ha embaucado. Y es que en este conjunto de relatos de terror me he topado con textos maravillosos y otros tediosos a los que no he terminado de cogerles el puntillo.
Suele pasar que en los recopilatorios de cuentos te topas con textos diferentes, obras con las que conectas más y otras menos, en este caso mi favorito ha sido «La bruja Lois». Está cargado de tintes góticos y una ambientación escalofriante.
Eso sí, hay algo innegable y es que la pluma de la autora es de una calidad y belleza difícil de encontrar. Leyéndola solo puedo decir maravillas de su lírica, de sus excelentes descripciones y aunque este no sea su género habitual me ha llegado a estremecer más de una vez.
No tengo ninguna duda de que más adelante quiero seguir leyendo sus novelas y ya tengo esperando su turno en mis estanterías a «Cranford». Sin duda creo que es una de esas autoras a tener en cuenta.
Sin dudarlo recomiendo esta lectura para leer algo diferente, un terror suave e ideal para octubre y Halloween. Si te quieres adentrar en cuentos victorianos llenos de suspense y con calidad narrativa no lo dudéis.
Hace mucho tiempo que leo reseñas alabando la bibliografía de Elizabeth Gaskell y aprovechando que @albaeditorial sacaba en su colección minus este ejemplar para Halloween no lo dudé. Lo he podido leer en esas fechas (aunque al final me ha durado más ya que no es un libro para devorar rápido).
Tengo que decir que mi primer encuentro ha sido satisfactorio en rasgos generales pero no me ha embaucado. Y es que en este conjunto de relatos de terror me he topado con textos maravillosos y otros tediosos a los que no he terminado de cogerles el puntillo.
Suele pasar que en los recopilatorios de cuentos te topas con textos diferentes, obras con las que conectas más y otras menos, en este caso mi favorito ha sido «La bruja Lois». Está cargado de tintes góticos y una ambientación escalofriante.
Eso sí, hay algo innegable y es que la pluma de la autora es de una calidad y belleza difícil de encontrar. Leyéndola solo puedo decir maravillas de su lírica, de sus excelentes descripciones y aunque este no sea su género habitual me ha llegado a estremecer más de una vez.
No tengo ninguna duda de que más adelante quiero seguir leyendo sus novelas y ya tengo esperando su turno en mis estanterías a «Cranford». Sin duda creo que es una de esas autoras a tener en cuenta.
Sin dudarlo recomiendo esta lectura para leer algo diferente, un terror suave e ideal para octubre y Halloween. Si te quieres adentrar en cuentos victorianos llenos de suspense y con calidad narrativa no lo dudéis.
November 1, 2014
“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 Squire’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 more 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 equally 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.
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 more 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 equally 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.
March 19, 2019
A series of tales about the darker side of human nature.
List of tales:
The Old Nurse's Story
The Squire's Story
The Poor Clare
The Doom of the Griffiths
The Crooked Branch
Curious, if True
The Grey Woman
For people with nostalgia, the past acquires 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 more 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 "canon."
A couple of stories were pleasant to read but not all that memorable. Others stuck more 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 well.
Recommend this for readers of gothic horror fiction, those looking for early tales of crime, mystery, and suspense, and readers digging into early feminist works.
List of tales:
The Old Nurse's Story
The Squire's Story
The Poor Clare
The Doom of the Griffiths
The Crooked Branch
Curious, if True
The Grey Woman
For people with nostalgia, the past acquires 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 more 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 "canon."
A couple of stories were pleasant to read but not all that memorable. Others stuck more 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 well.
Recommend this for readers of gothic horror fiction, those looking for early tales of crime, mystery, and suspense, and readers digging into early feminist works.
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October 7, 2021I love all the Elizabeth Gaskell's novels that I have read so far but sadly I did not get on with this collection of short stories. With the exception of Lois the Witch, which I read as a standalone novella and loved, the other stories in this collection didn't do anything for me.
For me, what I love about Gaskell's novels is the slow but detailed pace and the development of her characters over the course of the story. In a short story format these elements were lost so I didn't feel like they showcased her talent as a writer in the same way.
The stories themselves weren't as atmospheric and gothic as I was hoping for and I found many of them quite boring. I think I will stick to Gaskell's novels!
For me, what I love about Gaskell's novels is the slow but detailed pace and the development of her characters over the course of the story. In a short story format these elements were lost so I didn't feel like they showcased her talent as a writer in the same way.
The stories themselves weren't as atmospheric and gothic as I was hoping for and I found many of them quite boring. I think I will stick to Gaskell's novels!
November 19, 2024
Disappearances ⭐⭐✨✨�
The old nurse's story ⭐⭐⭐⭐�
The squire's story ⭐⭐⭐⭐�
The poor Clare ⭐⭐⭐✨�
The doom of the Griffiths ⭐⭐⭐⭐�
Lois the Witch ⭐⭐✨✨�
The crooked branch ⭐⭐⭐✨�
Curious, if true ⭐⭐⭐⭐�
The grey woman ⭐⭐⭐⭐�
Vilken novellsamling! Jag är jättenöjd och jag tycker att jag har fått en inblick i Gaskells tid ändå på sätt och vis. Denna samling har lärt mig att gotisk litteratur kan se väldigt olika ut! Det måste inte bara vara spökliga ruiner, medeltida slott och spöken generellt. Det kan också vara trauman, mord, nattliga skogsvandringar osv.
The old nurse's story ⭐⭐⭐⭐�
The squire's story ⭐⭐⭐⭐�
The poor Clare ⭐⭐⭐✨�
The doom of the Griffiths ⭐⭐⭐⭐�
Lois the Witch ⭐⭐✨✨�
The crooked branch ⭐⭐⭐✨�
Curious, if true ⭐⭐⭐⭐�
The grey woman ⭐⭐⭐⭐�
Vilken novellsamling! Jag är jättenöjd och jag tycker att jag har fått en inblick i Gaskells tid ändå på sätt och vis. Denna samling har lärt mig att gotisk litteratur kan se väldigt olika ut! Det måste inte bara vara spökliga ruiner, medeltida slott och spöken generellt. Det kan också vara trauman, mord, nattliga skogsvandringar osv.
July 30, 2019
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!
November 15, 2018
No todas las historias eran lo que esperaba pero no me dejan mal sabor de boca. Algunos relatos parecen a medio cocer, otros daban para más pero la mayoría cumplió con la ambientación gótica que buscaba.
-Desapariciones (2/5): un cuento sin un objetivo claro, se narran varios eventos de desapariciones sospechosas y de cómo la Policía de Investigaciones vino a solucionar esto (me imaginaba la narradora como una mujer de 80 años regañando al nieto).
-El cuento de la vieja niñera (4/5): una historia bien hilada de fantasmas y viejos rencores, donde la separación entre la realidad y fantasía es muy delgada.
-La Clarisa pobre (2/5): el inicio fue muy pesado y descriptivo, el final fue algo abrupto pero emocionante. Una maldición involucrada y la búsqueda de redención.
-La maldición de los Griffiths (3/5): fue muy agradable poder atar cabos en esta historia que tiene bastante suspenso.
-Lois la Bruja (5/5): la verdad puede ser más escalofriante que la más loca mentira. Me sigue sorprendiendo que existieron este tipo de casos en las famosas "persecuciones de brujas".
-Rama Torcida (4/5): me dio mucha tristeza toda la historia pero satisfacción al ver triunfar la justicia en el final.
-Curioso de ser cierto (2/5): me quedé con cara de ¿qué acabo de leer? y no sé si fue bueno o malo.
-La mujer de gris (4/5): un relato dinámico, emocionante y que te tiene al borde del asiento. Disfruté mucho cómo avanzaba y la conclusión.
Más allá de historias de fantasmas, demonios o espíritus, son relatos que muestran la variedad de emociones humanas y lo volubles que somos para ser crédulos o incrédulos, dándoles forma a cuestiones intangibles (como la venganza, el odio, el amor, la tristeza).
-Desapariciones (2/5): un cuento sin un objetivo claro, se narran varios eventos de desapariciones sospechosas y de cómo la Policía de Investigaciones vino a solucionar esto (me imaginaba la narradora como una mujer de 80 años regañando al nieto).
-El cuento de la vieja niñera (4/5): una historia bien hilada de fantasmas y viejos rencores, donde la separación entre la realidad y fantasía es muy delgada.
-La Clarisa pobre (2/5): el inicio fue muy pesado y descriptivo, el final fue algo abrupto pero emocionante. Una maldición involucrada y la búsqueda de redención.
-La maldición de los Griffiths (3/5): fue muy agradable poder atar cabos en esta historia que tiene bastante suspenso.
-Lois la Bruja (5/5): la verdad puede ser más escalofriante que la más loca mentira. Me sigue sorprendiendo que existieron este tipo de casos en las famosas "persecuciones de brujas".
-Rama Torcida (4/5): me dio mucha tristeza toda la historia pero satisfacción al ver triunfar la justicia en el final.
-Curioso de ser cierto (2/5): me quedé con cara de ¿qué acabo de leer? y no sé si fue bueno o malo.
-La mujer de gris (4/5): un relato dinámico, emocionante y que te tiene al borde del asiento. Disfruté mucho cómo avanzaba y la conclusión.
Más allá de historias de fantasmas, demonios o espíritus, son relatos que muestran la variedad de emociones humanas y lo volubles que somos para ser crédulos o incrédulos, dándoles forma a cuestiones intangibles (como la venganza, el odio, el amor, la tristeza).
December 21, 2008
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 more 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.
October 30, 2021
4 stars for my favourite stories: The Poor Clare, Lois the Witch, and The Grey Woman. Probably 3 for The Old Nurse’s Story and The Crooked Branch. Less than 3 for the other three stories which were very short. Overall probably 3 1/2, for the most part a very enjoyable collection. The stand out stories were excellent and well worth the read.
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