Modern Ghost Stories by Eminent Women Writers

The twenty-seven women writers included here have certainly done their jobs well. You are sure to shiver while reading these well-told tales. A. S. Byatt, A. L. Barker, Richmal Crompton, Celia Fremlin, Penelope Lively, Daphne du Maurier, Ruth Rendell, and Jean Rhys are among the writers whose stories reveal the extraordinary range and development of a genre that has thrilled readers for over two hundred years. Ghosts usually take us by surprise as in Antonia Fraser's "Who's Been Sitting in My Car?" A single mother finds her car's ashtray full of cigarette butts and the gas tank empty, but there's no explanation. She soon learns of the nocturnal wanderings of her car and of the man who haunts it. In Edith Wharton's classic story, "Afterward," a young couple moves into a primitive country retreat, hoping to see the resident ghost. But they come to find out that it is not until afterward that you realize you've seen this ghost. Here lost loves, past enmities, and unwanted memories mingle with the inexplicable as unquiet souls return to repay kindnesses, settle scores, and haunt the imagination. Featuring some of the finest writers of the twentieth century, this is an absorbing, unsettling, and irresistible read. Dim the lights and open your mind to the possibilities.

Contents
ix • Preface (The Virago Book of Ghost Stories: The Twentieth Century: Volume 2) • (1991) • essay by Richard Dalby
x • Introduction (The Virago Book of Ghost Stories: The Twentieth Century: Volume 2) • (1991) • essay by Sara Maitland
1 • The July Ghost • (1982) • short story by A. S. Byatt
15 • With and Without Buttons • (1938) • short story by Mary Butts
27 • Don't Tell Cissie • (1974) • short story by Celia Fremlin
39 • The Book • (1930) • short story by Margaret Irwin
52 • The Grey Men • (1927) • short story by Rebecca West
57 • The Pool • (1959) • novelette by Daphne du Maurier
81 • The Station Road • (1936) • short story by Ann Bridge
88 • Black Dog • (1978) • short story by Penelope Lively
95 • No. 17 • (1951) • short story by E. Nesbit [as by Edith Nesbit]
102 • Prelude • (1991) • short story by Pamela Sewell
108 • The Pestering • (1932) • novelette by D. K. Broster
140 • I Used to Live Here Once • (1976) • short fiction by Jean Rhys
142 • A Spirit Elopement • (1991) • short story by Richard Dehan [as by Clotilde Graves]
150 • Whittington's Cat • (1932) • short story by Lady Eleanor Smith [as by Eleanor Smith (I)]
166 • The Haunting of Shawley Rectory • (1979) • short story by Ruth Rendell
180 • Mare Amore • (1931) • short story by Margery Lawrence (variant of February: The Sailor's Tale: Mare Amore)
194 • Who's Been Sitting in My Car? • (1976) • short story by Antonia Fraser
204 • The Ghosts of Calagou • (1991) • short story by Elizabeth Fancett
211 • Afterward • (1910) • novelette by Edith Wharton
236 • The Thingummyjig • (1978) • short story by Mary Williams
243 • The House of Shadows • (1933) • short story by Mary Elizabeth Counselman
250 • Rosalind • (1925) • short story by Richmal Crompton
261 • Redundant • (1991) • short story by Dorothy K. Haynes
267 • The Dream of Fair Women • (1983) • short story by A. L. Barker
279 • The Chauffeur • (1986) • short story by Rosemary Pardoe
284 • The Traitor • (1991) • short story by Joan Aiken
299 • The Landlady • (1923) • short story by Elinor Mordaunt
314 • Notes on the Authors (The Virago Book of Ghost Stories: The Twentieth Century: Volume 2) • (1991) • essay by Richard Dalby