More Deadly than the Male

March 1, 2019

Few consider authors Louisa May Alcott, Edith Nesbit, and Edith Wharton purveyors of the macabre. But this collection of horror tales by women writers includes these voices alongside many others, presenting a different perspective of the genre. The entries were written between the years 1830 and 1908. Alcott, Nesbit, and Wharton offer stories about a mummy's curse, an ominous funeral mass that foretells a tragedy, and a ghastly praying statue that hides a secret. Very few of the selections are overtly frightening-these are subtle tales that necessitate careful reading in order to be truly appreciated. Among the standouts are Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Tom Toothacre's Ghost Story," in which the teller describes how a fresh coat of paint can eliminate a troublesome spirit; Vernon Lee's "The Hidden Door," in which the main character may be haunted by an evil spirit or by his own guilty conscience; and Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wall Paper," an account of madness that contains no supernatural elements yet is among the more horrifying pieces here. VERDICT For those who enjoy in-your-face, blood-and-guts horror, this work won't satisfy. But it will delight those who desire shivery tales of moral ambiguity, subtlety, and psychological dilemma.-Heather M. Campbell, formerly at Philip S. Miller Library, Castle Rock, CO

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2018
While Mary Shelley and Ann Radcliffe are well-known names from the earliest days of the genre, there were actually many women writing thoughtful, psychologically intense horror in the nineteenth century. Davis (Colonial Horrors, 2017) presents 26 of their stories, many previously lost to history. His introduction contemplates the place of female writers in the genre's history and provides information about each author's personal and publishing life and why he chose each story. The result is a book that is a slice of women's history, an examination of the evolution of horror, and an anthology of entertaining, creepy reads. Famous names in the collection will attract attention, like Louisa May Alcott, but it is the compelling and uneasy work of little-known authors like Eliza Lynn Linton or Mary E. Wilkins Freeman that will captivate readers. Suggest this collection to those who enjoy recent female-driven horror like Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado (2017) or editor Amber Fallon's Fright into Flight anthology (2018), but fans of psychological suspense by best-selling authors like Gillian Flynn will find much to like here too.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)