A portrait promises impossible love. A bridegroom insists that even death cannot keep him from his wedding.
First published in 1893, E. Nesbit's Grim Tales gathers seven stories in which affection, longing, and domestic happiness meet the inexplicable. Best known for her children's fiction, Nesbit brings a darker imagination to these Gothic encounters, finding terror not only in supernatural events but in the wishes and weaknesses that draw people toward them.
In The Ebony Frame, an inherited Chelsea house holds a portrait with a dangerous promise. John Charrington's Wedding turns a declaration of devotion into a chilling prospect, while From the Dead explores wounded vanity and its haunting consequences. In Man-Size in Marble, a newly married couple's country life unfolds beneath the shadow of a local legend about two church effigies. Across the collection, ordinary rooms and intimate relationships become places where rational confidence offers little protection.
What readers find inside:
- Seven unsettling stories - Each tale explores a different encounter between everyday life and supernatural possibility.
- Love beyond death - Romantic longing becomes troubling when desire refuses to accept mortal limits.
- Haunted domestic life - Houses, marriages, and familiar surroundings conceal threats that feel uncomfortably close.
- Walking marble - Man-Size in Marble draws its gathering dread from a legend of medieval knights who rise on All Saints' Eve.
- Emotional consequences - Pride, selfishness, and guilt give the uncanny events their human weight.
This collection will appeal to readers of Victorian ghost stories, lovers of Gothic short fiction, and admirers of Nesbit curious about the unsettling side of her storytelling.
Step into these familiar rooms and discover how quickly their comforts can turn strange.
