The ghost of Charlotte Cray, and other stories

About the book

The title story begins with a prosperous publisher who should be enjoying his recent marriage but cannot forget a woman whose hopes he deliberately encouraged. Charlotte Cray's demand to meet his wife threatens the comfortable separation he has made between his past and present. The Invisible Tenants of Rushmere moves to a rural retreat where the promise of rest encounters unsettling disturbances. Elsewhere the collection turns to relationships, family feeling, and travel, including Chit-Chat from Andalusia and In the Heart of the Ardennes. Its range extends beyond ghost stories, but the opening tales establish a characteristic interest in what polite arrangements suppress. Marryat's satire gives selfishness and emotional neglect recognizable social forms before allowing the uncanny to disturb them.

• Emotional responsibility
• Domestic appearances
• Travel and observation

Why read it

The opening publisher's exploitation of a writer makes the supernatural premise inseparable from an acutely observed professional relationship.

English Bernhard Tauchnitz copyright edition of 1883, containing ten pieces