A Descent into the

Maelstrom
The Imp of the Perverse
The narrator explains at length his theory on
"The Imp of the Perverse", which he believes
causes people to commit acts against their self-
interest. This essay-like discussion is presented
objectively, though the narrator admits that he
is "one of the many uncounted victims of the
Imp of the Perverse".
Inspired by the Moskstraumen, it is
couched as a story within a story, a tale
told at the summit of a mountain
climb in Lofoten, Norway. The story is told
by an old man who reveals that he only
appears old—"You suppose me a very old
man," he says, "but I am not. It took less
than a single day to change these hairs
from a jetty black to white, to weaken my
limbs, and to unstring my nerves." The
narrator, convinced by the power of
the whirlpools he sees in the ocean beyond,
is then told of the "old" man's fishing trip
with his two brothers a few years ago

The victim enjoyed reading in bed at night and,

using the candle for illumination, dies in his
poorly ventilated room. No evidence is left
behind, causing the coroner to believe the man's
death is an act of God. The narrator inherits the
man's estate and, knowing he can never be
caught, enjoys the benefits of his murderous act
for many years.

"The Ghosts"
This is my favorite children's ghost
story, a wonderful time-slip novel
set during the First World War.
Lucy and Jamie Allen move with
their mother and baby brother to
the country, where their mother
has been engaged by a mysterious
gentleman, Mr Blunden, as
caretaker of an abandoned house
until the rightful owner can be
traced. One day, Lucy is walking in
the garden to explore and to pick
flowers when she meets Sara and
Georgie. It becomes clear that the
children are ghosts, children of the
house who died 100 years ago in
the fire that destroyed the estate.
It's a gentle, thoughtful ghost
story, of parallel time and the
chance to make amends for
mistakes in an earlier life.
Antonia Barber
The Enchanter's
Daughter
This is a magnificent storytelling
achievement, as well as a
wonderful collaboration between
gifted artists. Like Miranda in The
Tempest , the Enchanter's
daughter longs to see the world
beyond the place she has grown
up (in this case, a castle). But
whenever she expresses her
Antonia Barber born 1932 (real
yearning to see new landscapes,
name Barbara Anthony) is an English author
the Enchanter simply waves his
of books for children and adults.[1] Barber
resides in Kent and Mousehole, Cornwall. hand and creates that view from
Her award winning book The Mousehole the castle window.
Cat has been made into an animated
film[2] and is being adapted as a stage
musical. She graduated from University
College London, and had a husband who
was a structural engineer. She is the younger
sister of fellow author Pamela
Oldfield.[3] Barber is
currently[when?] living in her oast house in
Kent and visiting Mousehole regularly. She
is working on the Mousehole Musicals.
Hidden
+
Tales from The Mousehole Cat
Eastern Europe
he walls of Eastern Europe have recently One very stormy winter, none of the
crumbled to reveal fascinating hidden fishermen of the village
cultures. To reflect this more open of Mousehole /ˈmaʊzəl/ in Cornwall hav
perspective, here is a collection of little- e been able to leave the harbour for a
known folk tales from Poland, Slovakia, long while and the village is near
Russia, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia and starvation. Tom Bawcock (only called
Romania. The seven elegantly told and 'Tom' in the book) and his loyal black
beautifully illustrated tales create a timely and white cat, Mowzer, decide to brave
collection to stimulate children's interest in the storms and set sail to catch some fish.
Satchel Mouse and the
When the boat hits the storm, it is
their European neighbours.
Doll's House represented by a giant "Storm-Cat", which
allows Mowzer to eventually save the day
This book took place in a school as well by soothing the storm with her purring.
as in a strange forest. Sarah and the
children were learning about dinosaurs
and were making various things out of
clay. Sarah was trying to make a
diplodocus but her little friend in her
pocket which was a mouse didn’t think
it looked right at all; one leg was shorter
than all the rest and the neck was too
short. Her mouse was magic and had a
golden trumpet that had magic powers.
Next thing Sarah knew she and
satchelmouse were in a forest and they
were running. They saw a baby
diplodocus that was limping away from
a tyrannosaurus.
 "The Man in
the Picture"
The doll / The small It closes this chilling trilogy by Susan
hand Hill. Theo, an art expert, feels
strangely attracted by an oil painting
In The Wrist, Edward returns to Iyot Lock, to the with a Venetian carnival scene that he
decadent mansion in which his aunt lived. Now manages to buy at an auction; he will
that she has died, the house is the same as forty soon realize that the characters
years ago: dark, full of premonitions and represented seem to have a life of their
memories; like that summer when his cousin own.
Leonora, a malignant and spoiled girl, went crazy
when nobody gave her the wrist she craved so
much.
She (born 5 February 1942) is an English autor of
fiction and non-fiction works. Her novels include The
Woman in Black, The Mist in the Mirror and I'm the
King of the Castle for which she received
the Somerset Maugham Award in 1971. She was
appointed Commander of the Order of the British
Empire (CBE) in the 2012 Birthday Honours for
services to literature

Vow of silence
Someone is terrorizing the young women
of Lafferton. But what is the link between
seemingly random deaths? Is the rifle
shooter also the revolver killer? Simon
Serrailler, the gold bachelor of Lafferton
(for whom however the years do not pass
in vain), must face not only a murderer
who seems to have a privileged mind, but
a family situation that threatens to
explode in the most catastrophic and
painful. The arrival of his sister from
Australia, the terrible illness of his brother-
in-law and the amorous whims of his
father add pressure to a process of
investigation that always seems to follow
the killer's forecasts.
The different dens of men
First installment of the series starring the
curator Simon Serrailler. A lonely woman
vanishes in the fog in Lafferton, a small
English town. The town police do not care,
but the young detective sergeant Freya
Graffham, recently arrived from London
and under the orders of inspector Serrailler,
is not resigned to file the case, especially
after finding among the belongings of the
missing person a note and an expensive set
of twins.
The excellent evocation of the atmosphere
of evil and the acute psychological
characterization explain the warm welcome
that this novel has had in Britain both
among critics and among readers.
Black woman
When the young lawyer Arthur Kipps
receives the order of traveling to a remote
village in the interior surrounded by misty
marshes to attend the funeral of an old
woman, he can not even imagine what
awaits him, and only sees in it the
possibility of progressing professionally,
perhaps let him finally get married.
While trying to put order in the legacy of
the deceased, begins to see a strange
appearance and enters a story that locals
try to forget: that of a single mother who
had to leave his son in the care of his
sister, but the child He sank into the
marshes while his biological mother
looked at him helplessly from his window.
 A Thin Ghost and
Ghost Others
Stories of an
Antiquary
Collection of stories by Montague
Rhodes James, a noted medieval
scholar and provost of King's
Ghost Stories of an Antiquary is College, Cambridge and of Eton
a horror short story collection by College. He is best remembered
British writer M. R. James, today for his ghost stories in the
published in 1904 (some had classic Victorian Yuletide vein.
previously appeared in
magazines). Some later editions
under this title contain both the
original collection and its
successor, More Ghost Stories.
He was born in the rectory of Goodnestone, Kent, where his
father was a coadjutor. From the age of six he felt a great
fondness for ancient literature and bibliophilia. He was educated
in the elitist "Eton College", later moving to Cambridge, the
"King's College", being eventually director and vice-director of
both.

His stories of terror stand out for the development of subtle

effects framed in an atmosphere of restlessness and anxiety,
often in a context of triviality and common sense that serve as a
counterpoint and contrast. There is always a lack of skepticism in
his works, a brushstroke of irony and humor, as well as the
background of a great scholarly culture. He was, and continues to
be, one of the masters of the short tale of ghosts, the only non-
academic genre in which he exercised creation.
The Collected Ghost
Stories of M. R.
James
is the title of M. R. James' omnibus
collection of ghost stories, published
in 1931, bringing together all but four
of his ghost stories (which had yet to
be published).
Montague Rhodes James (1862–1936)
was a medievalist
scholar; Provost of King's College,
Cambridge. He wrote many of his
ghost stories to be read aloud in the
long tradition of spooky Christmas
Eve tales. His stories often use rural
settings, with a quiet, scholarly
protagonist getting caught up in the
activities of supernatural forces. The
details of horror are almost never
explicit, the stories relying on a
gentle, bucolic background to
emphasize the awfulness of the
otherworldly intrusions.