During the Victorian era, it became a tradition for publishers to print ghost stories during the Christmas season for chilling winter reading by the fireside or candlelight. Collected here are 20 classic ghost stories from writers as diverse as Sheridan Le Fanu, Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins and Elizabeth Gaskell, to later masters such as Robert Louis Stevenson, Henry James, Algernon Blackwood, H.G. Wells, Edith Wharton and M.R. James. The stories offer a range in style and tone. Some are traditional ghost stories featuring strange apparitions and visits from beyond the grave, whilst others provide alternative forms of horror. Also included is a preface by M.R. James on the technique of writing a ghost story. ‘Hauntings’ is an outstanding collection of supernatural tales by 19th and early 20th century writers that can be read whatever the time of year but are especially atmospheric in the dark, winter months
