Katharine TynanRecensioni

This is a collection of ghost stories by Katharine Tynan, who was very well known in her day and wrote something like a hundred novels. Although these are ghost stories, they are not particularly creepy or even suspenseful; many are sad and wistful, and several have tidy, happy ends. The creepiest parts–grave robbing and ravenous rats–aren’t even supernatural. I really enjoyed them as a contrast to other ghost stories. Some of the best ones are from Tynan’s collection An Isle in the Water–the selections here did make me want to seek it out. Several stories that have similar themes and devices and even titles. For example, there are a couple stories about the death spancel, which is a disturbing love charm. There is also more than one story about grave robbing. Despite these similarities, the stories didn’t feel repetitive; instead, it seemed more like the author doing different takes on the same topic. This collection includes some poems. I didn't like them that much, but they were definitely relevant to the stories they followed.