Review by Booklist Review
After the success of their first collection gathering early supernatural tales by women, Morton and Klinger have gathered yet more eerie stories, including short tales by such big names as Edith Wharton ("The Fullness of Life"), George Eliot ("The Lifted Veil"), and Zora Neale Hurston ("Spunk"). The stories feature lonely wives seeking companionship or fulfillment, mothers struggling to protect their children, and women whose instincts warn them of horrors or grief to come. Crypts and apparitions haunt the pages. In "Good Lady Ducayne," by Mary Elizabeth Braddon, a young woman signs up to accompany an older woman to Italy, only to suffer from dizziness and fatigue. In "The Dead and the Countess," by Gertrude Atherton, a priest starts hearing the dead murmur after a train track is built nearby; in "Broken Glass," by Georgia Wood Pangborn, a woman overly protective of her children and cruel to her nanny is taught a hard lesson by a strange spirit. Fans of the previous collection honoring women's contributions to early horror will enjoy this additional anthology.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Editors Morton and Klinger deliver another strong installment to their Weird Women anthology series featuring "classic supernatural fiction by groundbreaking female authors," this time showcasing 16 works written between 1840 and 1925. The stories are as creepy as they are varied, with pieces from classic horror authors like Georgia Wood Pangborn ("Broken Glass"), as well as those not generally associated with the genre, including George Eliot ("The Lifted Veil") and Harriet Beecher Stowe ("The Ghost in the Mill"). Edith Wharton's heroine has a richer life after death than any she led when she was alive in "The Fullness of Life." A cabal of churchyard dead are resurrected in Gertrude Atherton's captivating "The Dead and the Countess." In Zora Neale Hurston's classic revenge tale, "Spunk," a woman and her lover are stalked by an otherworldly presence. The editors ground each of the works with brief author biographies and explanatory footnotes. Weird fiction fans won't want to miss this excellent survey of the genre's female pioneers. (Sept.)
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