Hauntings is a collection of supernatural short-stories that remains on the threshold between the fantastic and the psychological. Perhaps ghosts and strange forces do exist here, but they’re always invited by the obsession, hatred and passion of the living.

In the first story, Amour Dure, a historian researching Medieval Italy falls in love with the portrait of a Machiavellian woman and becomes the means to carry on a centuries-old revenge. In Dionea, a mysterious little girl cast ashore is taken in by Catholic nuns, but her pagan ways prevent her from adjusting. The longest story, Oke of Okehurst, concerns a woman whose obsession for family history brings about a tragedy. In the final story, A Wicked Voice, a musician scoffs at an 18th century singer who may have made a deal with the Devil to receive his talent, and starts hearing his voice wherever he goes.

The role of women and the danger of the past are recurrent motifs in these stories: in Amour Dure, we read the life story of one Medea da Carpi, a schemer who tried to kill her way to power and sacrificed her lovers one by one to get it. In The Wicked Voice the protagonist takes us to the music of the 18th century; apart from the unusual idea of haunting someone through a ghost voice, this story seemed the weakest one to me.

In Dionea, the most mysterious story in the collection, a little girl, who may or may not be Venus, comes up from the sea (like in Botticelli’s painting) and declares that one day will “get back to the sea”, and infects everyone with mad love. This story reminded me a bit of Machen’s The Great God Pan, in that the modern world comes in contact with old pagan myths and forces.

My favorite, Oke of Okehurst: or the Phantom Lover, belongs in the tradition of psychological ghost stories like The Turn of the Screw. William Oke keeps seeing his wife, Alice, with a lover, although no one else can see him. Alice may be possessed by the spirit of an ancient relative, also named Alice, who had an affair with a poet before he died in mysterious circumstances. On the other hand Alice may just love her family’s history and maybe she dresses up like her ancestor just to annoy William. In this story reality isn’t as importance as its perception, and how It affects peoples’ actions.

I’d had never read Vernon Lee (pseudonym of Violet Paget) before, and her style impressed me for its clarity, ability to blur the line between reality and fantasy, and the sense of mystery her stories maintain until the end. Although her stories are couched in the Victorian/Edwardian tradition, I think she’ll be able to surprise anyone who gives her a try. ( )