Ghost Stories and Gothic Tales by Edith Wharton

Ovid Publishing Group Edition

This new collection of ghost stories and gothic tales transports readers into the realm of the supernatural and mysteries of the afterlife.

This edition is enriched with:

Twelve illustrated stories dating from 1893 to 1926
Twelve essays examining each story in the collection
Endnotes for each story.

In these haunting stories, unwitting characters encounter restless spirits, eerie visions, and otherworldly phenomena that defy rational explanation. Wharton's ghosts lurk in decaying New England mansions, mist-shrouded English estates, sun-drenched Italian villas, and the remote Moroccan desert, terrifying the living with their unfinished business.

From menacing revenants like the tormented spirit in "The Lady's Maid's Bell" to enigmatic hauntings like the disquieting presence in "The Eyes," Wharton combines the ghostly and the psychological in tales that transcend the traditional gothic ghost story. With her subtle prose and complex character studies, she peels back layers of ambiguity to reveal the nightmares that can lurk within the human heart and mind.

About the Author

Edith Wharton

Edith Wharton (1862-1937) was an esteemed American novelist, short story writer, and designer, best known for her keen social commentary and exploration of the lives of the upper class during the Gilded Age and early 20th century. Born into a wealthy New York City family, she was educated in Europe and developed a lifelong appreciation for art and literature. Wharton’s literary career spanned over forty years, producing notable works such as "The Age of Innocence," for which she became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1921. Throughout her writing, Wharton expertly captured the complexities of human relationships, social expectation, and the moral constraints of her time, often placing her characters in morally ambiguous situations that reflect her society's hypocrisy.