A Phantom Lover And Other Dark Tales by Vernon Lee
"...Lee is as dangerous and uncanny as she is intelligent, which is saying a great deal." -- Henry James During her lifetime, Violet Paget, who wrote as Vernon Lee, was referred to as :the greatest of modern exponents of the supernatural in fiction," and yet today she remains on the periphery of the genre. This collection of her uniquely weird short stories and dark fantasies proves why she was once considered among the best of the genre, and why she deserves to return to those ranks today. From modernized folk tales such as "Marsyas in Flanders" and "The Legend of Madame Krasinska" to ingenious psychological hauntings such as the titular "A Phantom Lover" and "A Wicked Voice," Lee's own voice is just as distinctive and captivating--her weird imaginings just as freshly unsettling--as in her fin desiècle heyday.
Reviews
p.@softrosemint
3.5☆ i am not sure i enjoyed this as much as i had hoped, i just had a hard time finding myself engaged with the stories. regardless, i really liked the titular story, "a phantom lover", "amure dure" and "the legend of madame krasinska", as well as the ending of "sister bienvenuta and the christ child". there was a sense of drama in them, as well as an opportunity for lee to show off her abilities to build up a plot and anticipation.