Melissa Edmundson
@melissae.bsky.social
PhD in Victorian lit. Editor/researcher/lecturer. Women’s ghost stories & the supernatural. Lots of posts about books. And ghosts. And Margery Lawrence.
Violet Hunt’s The Tiger Skin and Other Tales of the Uneasy out now with The British Library.
Violet Hunt’s The Tiger Skin and Other Tales of the Uneasy out now with The British Library.
Saturday Simone #caturday (sign by @hiddenbritain.bsky.social)
November 1, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Saturday Simone #caturday (sign by @hiddenbritain.bsky.social)
Wrapping up #31days31books with Margery Lawrence's MASTER OF SHADOWS (1959). One of the best djs out there, designed by Val Biro.
Happy Halloween! 🎃 👻
Happy Halloween! 🎃 👻
October 31, 2025 at 12:01 PM
Wrapping up #31days31books with Margery Lawrence's MASTER OF SHADOWS (1959). One of the best djs out there, designed by Val Biro.
Happy Halloween! 🎃 👻
Happy Halloween! 🎃 👻
For day 30 of #31days31books, here is Rosemary Timperley’s Child in the Dark (1956). Jacket design by Biro.
October 30, 2025 at 5:11 PM
For day 30 of #31days31books, here is Rosemary Timperley’s Child in the Dark (1956). Jacket design by Biro.
Shirley Jackson's "The Daemon Lover," from The Lottery (1949). An interesting twist on the demon lover motif.
October 29, 2025 at 12:23 PM
Shirley Jackson's "The Daemon Lover," from The Lottery (1949). An interesting twist on the demon lover motif.
Joan Aiken's “The Windscreen Weepers,” from The Windscreen Weepers and Other Tales of Horror and Suspense (1969). Artist colony, a demon lover, and a reincarnation of Coleridge. All in one story!
October 29, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Joan Aiken's “The Windscreen Weepers,” from The Windscreen Weepers and Other Tales of Horror and Suspense (1969). Artist colony, a demon lover, and a reincarnation of Coleridge. All in one story!
Frances Garfield's “The High Places,” from Weird Tales (April 1939). A woman takes an airplane flight and discovers the pilot is a former fiancé who has previously died in a crash.
October 29, 2025 at 12:17 PM
Frances Garfield's “The High Places,” from Weird Tales (April 1939). A woman takes an airplane flight and discovers the pilot is a former fiancé who has previously died in a crash.
Margery Lawrence’s “Robin’s Rath,” from Nights of the Round Table (1926). Demon Lover + Green Man! A woman who plans to "improve" the wooded area around an estate gets more than she bargains for after meeting a mysterious man in those woods. Spoiler: it doesn't end well for her.
October 29, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Margery Lawrence’s “Robin’s Rath,” from Nights of the Round Table (1926). Demon Lover + Green Man! A woman who plans to "improve" the wooded area around an estate gets more than she bargains for after meeting a mysterious man in those woods. Spoiler: it doesn't end well for her.
Christina Rossetti's "The Hour and the Ghost," from Goblin Market and Other Poems (1862). One of her most haunting ghost poems about a spectral visit from beyond the grave.
"Come with me, fair and false,
To our home, come home..."
"Come with me, fair and false,
To our home, come home..."
October 29, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Christina Rossetti's "The Hour and the Ghost," from Goblin Market and Other Poems (1862). One of her most haunting ghost poems about a spectral visit from beyond the grave.
"Come with me, fair and false,
To our home, come home..."
"Come with me, fair and false,
To our home, come home..."
For #WyrdWednesday here's a thread of demon lovers! Elizabeth Bowen’s “The Demon Lover,” from The Demon Lover and Other Stories (1945). During WWII, a woman is haunted by a former love from WWI who keeps his promise to come back for her...
October 29, 2025 at 12:11 PM
For #WyrdWednesday here's a thread of demon lovers! Elizabeth Bowen’s “The Demon Lover,” from The Demon Lover and Other Stories (1945). During WWII, a woman is haunted by a former love from WWI who keeps his promise to come back for her...
Day 29 of #31days31books brings Louisa Baldwin's THE SHADOW ON THE BLIND (1895).
October 29, 2025 at 11:56 AM
Day 29 of #31days31books brings Louisa Baldwin's THE SHADOW ON THE BLIND (1895).
For days 26, 27, and 28 of #31days31books here’s a trio of Margaret Irwin.
📘 Madame Fears the Dark (1935)
📙 Still She Wished for Company (1924)
📕 Bloodstock (1953)
📘 Madame Fears the Dark (1935)
📙 Still She Wished for Company (1924)
📕 Bloodstock (1953)
October 27, 2025 at 7:34 PM
For days 26, 27, and 28 of #31days31books here’s a trio of Margaret Irwin.
📘 Madame Fears the Dark (1935)
📙 Still She Wished for Company (1924)
📕 Bloodstock (1953)
📘 Madame Fears the Dark (1935)
📙 Still She Wished for Company (1924)
📕 Bloodstock (1953)
Sadly, I don’t own a copy of Shudders, but here’s my copy of Asquith’s The Ghost Book (1926).
October 25, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Sadly, I don’t own a copy of Shudders, but here’s my copy of Asquith’s The Ghost Book (1926).
For day 25 of #31days31books we have Cynthia Asquith’s THIS MORTAL COIL (1947).
October 25, 2025 at 1:24 PM
For day 25 of #31days31books we have Cynthia Asquith’s THIS MORTAL COIL (1947).
Elizabeth Bowen's "Hand in Glove" is included in Asquith's SECOND GHOST BOOK (1952). Two sisters learn the hard way that when your aunt tells you to leave her clothes alone, she means it.
October 25, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Elizabeth Bowen's "Hand in Glove" is included in Asquith's SECOND GHOST BOOK (1952). Two sisters learn the hard way that when your aunt tells you to leave her clothes alone, she means it.
Lettice Galbraith's "In the Seance Room" appeared in her collection NEW GHOST STORIES (1893). A talented young doctor attends a seance and gets more than he bargained for when someone appears from his past.
October 25, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Lettice Galbraith's "In the Seance Room" appeared in her collection NEW GHOST STORIES (1893). A talented young doctor attends a seance and gets more than he bargained for when someone appears from his past.
B. M. Croker’s “If You See Her Face,” published in TO LET (1893). In this Anglo-Indian story a ghostly temple dancer enacts revenge on an oppressive British colonial official.
October 25, 2025 at 1:17 PM
B. M. Croker’s “If You See Her Face,” published in TO LET (1893). In this Anglo-Indian story a ghostly temple dancer enacts revenge on an oppressive British colonial official.
Charlotte Riddell's "A Terrible Vengeance," from PRINCESS SUNSHINE AND OTHER STORIES (1889). A tale of love gone wrong and plenty of secrets are revealed. (Also an entry in the “disembodied feet enact revenge” subgenre).
October 25, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Charlotte Riddell's "A Terrible Vengeance," from PRINCESS SUNSHINE AND OTHER STORIES (1889). A tale of love gone wrong and plenty of secrets are revealed. (Also an entry in the “disembodied feet enact revenge” subgenre).
Mary Elizabeth Braddon's "Eveline's Visitant" was published in Belgravia in January 1867 and tells the tale of a feud, a curse, and a haunting from beyond the grave.
October 25, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Mary Elizabeth Braddon's "Eveline's Visitant" was published in Belgravia in January 1867 and tells the tale of a feud, a curse, and a haunting from beyond the grave.
For this spectral #BookWormSat here’s a thread of ghostly revenge stories! Cynthia Asquith's "The Playfellow" first appeared in SHUDDERS (1929). A family inherits an ancestral house, and the malevolent ghostly child who comes with it.
October 25, 2025 at 1:17 PM
For this spectral #BookWormSat here’s a thread of ghostly revenge stories! Cynthia Asquith's "The Playfellow" first appeared in SHUDDERS (1929). A family inherits an ancestral house, and the malevolent ghostly child who comes with it.
A pair of Margery Lawrence books for days 23 and 24 of #31days31books. To the left is Ferry Over Jordan, published by Robert Hale in 1944. To the right is the two volume paper edition published by the Psychic Book Club (1944).
October 24, 2025 at 6:12 PM
A pair of Margery Lawrence books for days 23 and 24 of #31days31books. To the left is Ferry Over Jordan, published by Robert Hale in 1944. To the right is the two volume paper edition published by the Psychic Book Club (1944).
For days 20, 21, and 22 of #31days31books here’s a trio of books by Helen Simpson.
The Baseless Fabric (1925)
The Woman on the Beast (1933)
Cups, Wands and Swords (1927)
The Baseless Fabric (1925)
The Woman on the Beast (1933)
Cups, Wands and Swords (1927)
October 22, 2025 at 1:14 PM
For days 20, 21, and 22 of #31days31books here’s a trio of books by Helen Simpson.
The Baseless Fabric (1925)
The Woman on the Beast (1933)
Cups, Wands and Swords (1927)
The Baseless Fabric (1925)
The Woman on the Beast (1933)
Cups, Wands and Swords (1927)
Goldsmith wrote 5 novels, translated nearly 20 books, and wrote nearly 20 works of non-fiction, including biographies of Christina of Sweden, Florence Nightingale, Sappho, Madame de Stael, and Franz Anton Mesmer.
October 19, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Goldsmith wrote 5 novels, translated nearly 20 books, and wrote nearly 20 works of non-fiction, including biographies of Christina of Sweden, Florence Nightingale, Sappho, Madame de Stael, and Franz Anton Mesmer.
Margaret L. Goldsmith (1894-1971) was an American journalist and novelist. She married fellow journalist Frederick Voigt and the couple moved to Berlin, where she had an affair with Vita Sackville-West. Goldsmith eventually divorced Voigt in 1935.
October 19, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Margaret L. Goldsmith (1894-1971) was an American journalist and novelist. She married fellow journalist Frederick Voigt and the couple moved to Berlin, where she had an affair with Vita Sackville-West. Goldsmith eventually divorced Voigt in 1935.
Norah James went on to publish many more novels from the 1930s to 1970s.
October 19, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Norah James went on to publish many more novels from the 1930s to 1970s.