Elizabeth Gaskell's chilling Gothic tales blend the real and the supernatural to eerie, compelling effect. 'Disappearances', inspired by local legends of mysterious vanishings, mixes gossip and fact; 'Lois the Witch', a novella based on an account of the Salem witch hunts, shows how sexual desire and jealousy lead to hysteria; while in 'The Old Nurse's Story' a mysterious child roams the freezing Northumberland moors. Whether darkly surreal, such as 'The Poor Clare', where an evil doppelgänger is formed by a woman's bitter curse, or mischievous like 'Curious, if True', a playful reworking of fairy tales, all the stories in this volume form a stark contrast to the social realism of Gaskell's novels, revealing a darker and more unsettling style of writing.
- ISBN10 0606206817
- ISBN13 9780606206815
- Publish Date 1 January 2001 (first published 14 August 2000)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 1 September 2015
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Turtleback Books
- Edition Turtleback School & Library ed.
- Format Hardcover (Library Binding)
- Language English