As Dahl relates in the introduction, he started the research for this book by making a call to the celebrated ghost-story anthologist/writer, Lady Cynthia Asquith. He then went to the British Museum Library, and read a total of 749 tales before selecting 14 for this anthology. His criterion: “Spookiness is, after all, the real purpose of the ghost story. It should give you the creeps and disturb your thoughts.” Included here are not only acknowledged classics by Robert Aickman, Edith Wharton, J. S. Le Fanu, and F. Marion Crawford, but also tales by lesser–known writers such as L. P. Hartley, Rosemary Timperley, Jonas Lie, Mary Treadgold, and A. M. Burrage. The Washington Post writes, “Dahl’s taste, it will surprise no one, is impeccable.”
Reviews
“Some shudders, and memorable exotic tales” by Ralph Elliott from February 18, 1984 issue of The Canberra Times – Canberra, Australia (read online)
Covers
Jonathan Cape, 1983
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1983
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1984
Penguin, 1985
Penguin, 2012
Catalan Covers – Històries de fantasmes
Estrella Polar, 2017
Dutch Covers – Het griezelkabinet van Roald Dahl
Meulenhoff Amsterdam, 1984
French Covers – Histoires de fantômes
Livre de poche, 1985
Hachette, 1988
Hachette jeunesse, 2008
German Covers – Roald Dahl’s Buch der Schauergeschichten
Rowohlt, 1985
Rowohlt, 1985
Rowohlt, 1990
Italian Covers – Il libro delle storie di fantasmi
People with peculiar and unlikely powers can be found throughout this extraordinary collection of seven short stories. A rich man who learns to see without his eyes, a giant turtle and a very special boy who can talk to animals, a cunning hitch-hiker and the curious driver who picks him up, and the very lucky ploughman who finds a fabulous fortune but loses a golden opportunity are only a few of the characters you’ll meet. The collection is a clever mix of fact and fiction and also includes the story of how Roald Dahl became a writer (and a wealth of tips for aspiring authors).
Reviews
“Dahl Contrives to Moralise” by Peter Monaghan from the April 8, 1978 issue of The Canberra Times – Canberra, Australia (read online)
This new selection of Roald Dahl’s short stories has been specially chosen as an introduction for teenagers into the adult writing of one of the world’s greatest storytellers. Subtle and bizarre, ironic and amusing, macabre and often grotesque, in every sense these tales provide a superb first step into the unexpected world of Roald Dahl.
