The exploits of the hapless ghost of Sir Simon Canterville - as he attempts to frighten off an American invasion of the Otis family into his ancestral home - are a delight. And when poor old long-dead Sir Simon is faced with modern detergents used to clean up his recurring bloodstains and Tammany Rising Sun Lubricator applied to his rusting chains, it's enough to make any spectre swear. But the ultimate insult occurs when, his best efforts having failed to raise even the slightest squeak of fear from the unwanted residents, they have the gall to taunt him with a 'ghostly' creation of their own:
YE OTIS GHOST
Ye Onlie True and Originale Spooke
Beware of Ye Imitationes
All others are Counterfeite.
Over the years, I have read and re-read that story countless times and it still raises smiles to this day.
I came across The Picture of Dorian Gray some years later. In fact I saw the film (the version made in 1945) before I read the story. In life, Oscar Wilde worshipped youth and beauty. He loved to surround himself with beautiful, young, vibrant people. Even more so the older he grew. This is evident in his liaison with the much younger Lord Alfred ('Bosie') Douglas and in his friendships with the beauties of the day such as Jennie, Lady Randolph Churchill (American-born mother of Winston) and the Jersey Lily herself, Lily Langtry. He is famously quoted as remarking, "Youth is wasted on the young."
In The Picture of Dorian Gray, a talented artist is commissioned to paint a portrait of the wealthy young man of the title. As years go by and Gray leads an increasingly debauched life, he remains young, while in the attic, his picture reflects the ravages of time and sin. The story went through various edits, and in the longer version we now know, Oscar wrote a challenging preface to his readers. He entreated them to judge 'art for art's sake' and stated, 'there is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book.' With typical Wilde immodesty, he also remarked, 'Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault.'
The Picture of Dorian Gray was released to a storm of protest and outrage from reviewers, bordering on the hysterical. He was even threatened with possible criminal investigation as a result of his writing - a sad portent of what was to come a few years later.
It remained Oscar's only full-length published novel.
Pamela Courtney encounters ghosts whose intents are far from clear, when she is sent to live with her aunts at Chanterlands...
“You don’t belong here. None of you do. None but us….”
1940. Fourteen-year-old Pamela Courtney is evacuated to Chanterlands where she will live with her two spinster aunts: Jilly, the eccentric one, who dreams of her days as a star of the silver screen, and Bunny, ever practical and down-to-earth.
But Chanterlands is home to more than just the living and some of them do not rest in peace. There’s the long-dead lonely boy whose room she sleeps in - and that’s only the start.
Pamela discovers the long-neglected attic and, as she sorts through the assorted detritus accumulated over generations of her forebears, more ghosts stir, and an ancient feud reveals just one of the sinister secrets of this once-great house.
But, in the grounds, there is much more danger awaiting Pamela during that summer long ago when war waged all over Europe and the safety her mother had wished for her took a dark and fatal turn.
Here is what they are saying about Ghosts of Chanterlands:
'A classic ghost story in the vein of Susan Hill’ – Priya Sharma, World Fantasy Award Winner
“Unspooling like a lost silent-era Hollywood film, Catherine Cavendish’s lushly gothic Ghosts of Chanterlands is like waltzing with lost spirits as they whisper their secrets and melancholy stories in your ear.” - John Palisano, Bram Stoker Award-Winning author of Requiem and All That Withers
“Ghosts of Chanterlands captures everything I love about classic gothic horror. Reminiscent of The Woman in Black, it weaves an eerie haunted house mystery through generations of family tragedy and loss. Catherine Cavendish creates an atmosphere so vivid and unsettling that I felt as though I were wandering the shadowed corridors of Chanterlands myself. A beautifully crafted ghost story that is both chilling and deeply poignant.” Gaby Triana, Gothic suspense author of Moon Child‘Fans of creepy, suspenseful gothic ghost tales will absolutely love this book’ – JG Faherty, author of Ragman, The Wakening and Sins of the Father
'Fans of classic haunted house stories, Gothic fiction, and ghostly mysteries will find plenty to love here. Ghosts of Chanterlands is a chilling, beautifully crafted novel that lingers long after the final page. ‘— Melissa Prusi, co-author of the Stoker’s Wilde trilogy
Coming out on August 18th 2026, available for pre-order at:
Images:
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Nick Wells/Flame Tree Press Studio
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