She leaned closer, her voice dropping. “I seen ’em.” 

In the ashen light from the veiling of snow beyond the windows the Deacon’s little screwed-up eyes seemed to give out red sparks.

“Him and the dead?”

“Him and the dead.” 

Best known for her literary novels such as The House of Mirth and the Pulitzer-Prize-winning The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton was also a masterful weaver of chilling short tales who earned a reputation in the early twentieth century as one of America’s finest ghost story writers.

Drawing from a lifetime of supernatural short-story writing, this new selection from genre expert Mike Ashley presents eleven of Wharton’s most unnerving tales, including rarely anthologised works from the British Library’s collections. Featuring a biographical essay exploring how Wharton’s turbulent life influenced her macabre imagination, this volume is a celebration of the author’s signature brand of the weird and uneasy.

Publication date: 27/03/2025

Author: Edited by Mike Ashley

Brand: British Library Publishing

Number of pages: 288

Binding: Hardback

Dimensions: 210 x 149 mm