Book Review: The Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories: Volume Two

THE VALANCOURT BOOK OF VICTORIAN CHRISTMAS GHOST STORIES: VOLUME 2 | Edited by Allen Grove
November 2017 | Valancourt Books
Rating: 3.5/5 stars

THE VALANCOURT BOOK OF VICTORIAN CHRISTMAS GHOST STORIES: VOLUME 2 is a collection of fifteen short stories from the Victorian era that were collected from various periodicals of the time. After the success of Charles Dickens’ A CHRISTMAS CAROL it became common for Victorian newspapers to publish ghost stories around Christmas time. Each of the stories within this book focus on a haunting or ghost of some sort. The tales range from spooky to mind-bending and show the great variety with which authors can interpret the subject of a ghost story.

I was a bit worried after the first story that I would find myself bored by the level of detail that is common in older books and stories, however, I ended up being pleasantly surprised by this collection. There were stories that proved to be beyond their time and ones that really made me think. The situations in some of these are so uncommon for present times, but perfect for the Victorian period where they came from. They had charm along with scares! My favorites stories in this collection were NUMBER TWO, MELROSE SQUARE, THE WEIRD VIOLIN, THE STEEL MIRROR, WOLVERDEN TOWER, and CHRISTMAS EVE IN THE BEACH HOUSE.

One of my favorite things about this book was that the editor, Allen Grove, took the time to give each story’s background. These small blurbs before each story featured information on the author and when/where the story was originally published. I love learning more about these little-known authors and I thought it was a really special touch that allowed the stories to mean more to me as a reader. I would recommend this little collection to any reader looking for a classic read at the holiday time! I’ll definitely be checking out some of the other collections in this series next year!