Edith Wharton · Supernatural Fiction
Twelve illustrated ghost stories from the mistress of American letters — from decaying New England mansions to sun-drenched Italian villas, where spirits always settle their unfinished business.
About the Book
This collection transports readers into the realm of the supernatural and mysteries of the afterlife. 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. This Ovid edition presents twelve illustrated stories alongside twelve scholarly essays — one dedicated analysis per story — making it the definitive annotated collection of Wharton's supernatural work.
The finest ghost stories in the American tradition — psychological, precise, and deeply unsettling.
Ovid Publishing Group Edition
Ovid Publishing Group Edition
Stories in this Collection
About the Author
Edith Wharton 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.
Her ghost stories, written across her career from 1893 to 1926, represent a distinct and underappreciated strand of her output — combining the psychological depth of her social fiction with the atmospheric dread of the supernatural tradition.
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