WORDSWORTH CLASSICS : IRISH GHOST STORIES – STEPHEN CARVER

"<p><em>He told more about it to the priest than to others. He certainly had a secret to tell. He might as well have divulged it frankly, for the neighbours all knew well enough that it was the face of dead Ellen Coleman that he had seen.</em> – J.S. Le Fanu</p> <p><em>I felt a strange creeping sensation as I looked up the vast black staircase, wide enough for a coach to drive down, and at the heavy darkness bending over it like a curse.</em> – Rosa Mulholland</p> <p><em>On and on he glided, like an evil shadow, the very darkness seeming to loathe him as he passed. </em>– Oscar Wilde</p> <p>To walk through Irish history is to pass through a haunted landscape. Perhaps that’s why so many of Ireland’s finest writers found themselves drawn to the ghost story. This collection includes the work of canonical figures like Bram Stoker, J.S. Le Fanu, Oscar Wilde, and W.B. Yeats, but also a wealth of lesser-known authors like Charlotte Riddell and Rosa Mulholland who were once bestsellers but are now unjustly neglected, all with a keen sense of Ireland’s haunted character.<br /> </p> <p>Each story in this collection is presented with its original publication details, so readers can see exactly where and when it first appeared, and a brief biography of its author. Together, they offer a fascinating cross-section of Ireland’s literary relationship with the supernatural.</p> <p>Contents of the book include:</p> <p>The Headless Horseman by Thomas Crofton Croker</p> <p>Leixlip Castle; An Irish Family Legend by Charles Robert Maturin</p> <p>A Vision of Purgatory by William Maginn</p> <p>The Ghost and The Bone Setter by J.S. Le Fanu</p> <p>The Fate of Frank M’Kenna by William Carleton</p> <p>The Pot of Tulips by Fitz-James O’Brien</p> <p>The Ghosts and the Game of Football by Patrick Kennedy</p> <p>The Ghost at the Rath by Rosa Mulholland</p> <p>Squire Toby’s Will by J.S. Le Fanu</p> <p>The White Cat of Drumgunniol by J.S. Le Fanu</p> <p>Far Darrig in Donegal by Letitia McClintock</p