The Open Door: and Other Stories of the Seen and Unseen

Description

'There was not a soul to be seen, up or down; and the trees stood like ghosts, and the silence was terrible, and everything clear as day. You don't know what silence is until you find it in the light like that...' Margaret Oliphant's superbly strange tales have been long overdue their rediscovery as classics of the Victorian ghost story genre. From suspenseful hauntings to weird experiences of the afterlife and encounters with sympathetic ghosts, Oliphant tells her tales with well-wrought imagery and a nuanced voice to deliver a thoroughly unnerving and unforgettable reading experience. This newly edited volume collects six of her greatest 'Seen and Unseen' stories - Oliphant's most popular series in her day - and includes a new introduction exploring the life of this pioneering novelist.

Margaret Oliphant (1828-1897) was a Scottish novelist and author of supernatural tales, travel accounts and literary criticism. Whilst living in Edinburgh she became a frequent contributor to Blackwood's Magazine, before moving to London in her 20s. Though her family was plagued by tragedy, she wrote prolifically throughout her life, and penned some of the finest ghost stories in the language.