The Haunted HouseThe Haunted House

On Christmas Eve, a party of friends descends on a purportedly haunted country retreat, charged with the task of discovering evidence of the supernatural. Sequestered in their rooms for the holiday, the friends reconvene on Twelfth Night at a great feast and share their stories of spectral encounter. "The mortals in the house" by Charles Dickens provides the framework for the tales, which include two more of his own stories. Counting Elizabeth Gaskell and Wilkie Collins among its other contributors, The haunted house examines quintessentially Victorian themes -- sex and longing, nostalgia and loss -- in ways that continue to resonate today. Ingeniously conceived and written, and spiked with flashes of Dickensian humor, this volume is a strange and sheer delight.