My sister was an English major in college, and loves nothing more than early 20th century literature. Growing up, I was much more fond of popular fiction and science fiction books, comics and poetry. I never felt that I enjoyed classical fiction, and never saw much need to read any. However, his was one of those books that I saw on her shelf and thought I would try out, mainly because short stories intimidate me less than novels from the same era. I was very glad I gave this book a try!

I found it a delightful collection of stories. The writing is a bit florid at times, and I admit I wasn't sure what every word meant and had to check the dictionary on occasion, but it was worth it. The stories ranged from classic Victorian horror stories to tales about families and society that ring as true today as they must have when they were written. The writing is charming and lyrical, and I found the breadth of topics engaging. It also works well as a social snapshot of wealthy Victorian society. There honestly wasn't a story in the collection that I didn't enjoy in some way, and found the creepy ghost stories especially fun to read. Wharton is a gifted writer, and I'm surprised I didn't discover that sooner. I'm looking forward to reading more of her work. ( )