Haunted Houses

Two Novels from Charlotte Riddell

By: Charlotte Riddell, Andrew Smith - introduction

Narrated by: David Thorpe

From the once-popular yet unfairly neglected Victorian writer Charlotte Riddell comes a pair of novels that cleverly upholster the familiar furniture of the haunted house story.

In An Uninhabited House, the hauntings are seen through the perspective of the solicitors who hold the deed of the property. Here we find a shrewd comedic skewering of this host of scriveners and clerks, as slowly the safer world of commerce and law gives way and an encounter with the supernatural becomes more and more unavoidable.

In Fairy Water, Riddell again subverts the expectations of the audience, suggesting a complex moral character for her haunting spirit. Her writing style is succinct and witty, rendering the story spirited and approachable despite its age.

Public Domain (P)2022 Isis Publishing Ltd

Wonderful books spoiled by poor narration

No one surpassed Charlotte Riddell in creating ghost stories. She was a benchmark writer in the genre. The two stories collected in this book represent her high quality work. It would be good to pick-up a hard copy rather than spend time on this audiobook. The narrator gives, what I can only assume was, an attempt at a lofty, erudite voice. I don't know who it was in the production of this recording thought that was a good idea. It totally fails. The performance comes off sounding haughty, overbearing and pretentious. The end result is unlistenable.