Where Their Fire is Not Quenched - 5
Chilling story of the consequences of sin. What makes it most frightening is that you know the main character, Harriott Leigh, could too easily be you.

The Token - 4
A ghostly visit in search of love.

The Flaw in the Crystal - 3
Agatha has a power of which she is not in control but with which she heals others. This one got a bit out there and parts of it didn’t even make sense to me.

The Nature of the Evidence - 4
You might not want to be the second wife if the dead first wife isn’t quite finished yet.

If The Dead Knew - 5
I loved this one. What do the dead know of what we who are left behind think and feel? Wilfrid loves his mother, but it is only with her death that he can afford to marry, so he has a heart at war with itself.

The Victim - 4
Reminded me of the Tell-Tale Heart initially, but took a very different turn before the end. I found the end a little impractical, but then who expects a practical ghost story, I suppose.

The Finding of the Absolute - 2
This one was both weird and a little above me. I never understood Kant very well on earth, in heaven his theories seem even murkier.

The Intercessor - 5
I found this the best story in the book. Mr. Garvin seeks a quiet place to lodge and work and finds himself referred to the home of the Falshaw’s. It is obvious that something sinister has happened here and in the room where he sleeps at night, he hears the mysterious cries of a child. What ensues is eventually a story of child abandonment, parental misdeeds, and a mother’s remorse. This story has a more gothic feel than the others, and put me in mind of Emily Bronte and the loneliness of the heaths.




( )

What distinguishes Sinclair’s stories from the rest of the Victorian spooks is their variety. They don’t repeat themselves. They also rise above the level of merely miming the popular ghost tales of the time. Although all the stories involve the supernatural, these stories are hardly ever meant to be frightening so they fall into more of the strange tale category.

Sinclair also gives the impression of a feminist still in the closet. I don’t know if that makes any sense. ( )

May Sinclair's Uncanny Stores, a collection of her stylish brand of ghost stories, focuses largely on lost love and unfulfilled love, making her voice distinctive in the genre by applying an associated subtext of physical and emotional needs, suppressed emotions, psychological trauma, and recriminations. These eight stories provide substantial chills, but there's also some really thought-provoking stuff here. The following are the standout stories:

"The Flaw in the Crystal" - This, the longest story in the collection, is a dizzying tale of Agatha Verrall's strange supernatural power, her motives to employ it, and its effect on herself and those to whom it is applied. This is an exhausting roller coaster ride of the shifting psychological and physical effects of the power on Agatha.

"The Nature of the Evidence" - Marston's marriage to Pauline is upended by Rosamund, his deceased first wife, who does not approve. A surprisingly bold tale of sexual frustration...and fulfillment.

"If the Dead Knew" - The startling opening scene in which organist Wilfrid Hollyer concludes a piece, and his student Effie Carroll reacts to the performance is one of the most unmistakably symbolic representations of a shared orgasmic climax I can imagine. A most fitting start to a story of sexual repression and frustration, as the mollycoddled Wilfrid promises his controlling mother that he will not marry Effie, his intended, until after her death. The disturbing conclusion is altogether reasonable in this Freudian tale.

"The Victim" - This starts as a rather straightforward of love and revenge, but Sinclair turns the traditional motive of hauntings on its ear, with a couple of impressive twists at the end.

"The Finding of the Absolute" - A metaphysical excursion into the afterlife, with moral lessons on nature of heaven and hell, and philosophical musings on time, space, and the universe.

"The Intercessor" - Though not included in Sinclair's original Uncanny Stories anthology, it is appended as the concluding story in this Wordsworth edition (Tales of Mystery and the Supernatural Series), to great effect. A writer seeking only peace and quiet in a small village, discovers a dark and tragic family secret and then works to heal the resulting wounds.

Helpful hint: I'd suggest that Paul March-Russell's Introduction not be read up front as it contains quite a few spoilers. ( )

May Sinclair's body of modernist paranormal fiction is small but worth investigating for its precise and delicate use of language, its uncanny atmosphere and the gothic tension that gradually builds.

This volume collects eight of her uncanny stories that are united by the themes of realisation in the face of once-hidden knowledge and the intermingling of the lives of the living and the dead; "The Token" and "The Victim" particularly are good examples of the latter. Sinclair also deftly weaves modern theories of Einstein and Freud into traditional ghost stories, revealing her talents in philosophy and psychoanalysis (which she was involved in during the First World War).

My favourite stories in this collection include "The Finding of The Absolute" for its descriptions of heaven in material terms though the scientific explanations did get a little confusing, "The Intercessor" which was one of the eeriest and most gothic of the collection and dealt with the powerful grief of losing a child (and dealt too with semi-autobiographical elements), and also "The Token" for its look at how our actions impact the dead.

In all, Sinclair deserves wider recognition as an accomplished Modernist and ghost-story writer; this volume is a perfect introduction to her work and merit re-reading and mulling over time and again. ( )

This book contains eight short stories and an introduction by Paul March-Russell.

The introduction is mostly an analysis of the stories in the book, and would have probably made more sense to me if I'd read it after I'd finished the book.

“Where their Fire is not Quenched” is about two lovers who are having an empty affair and end up having to spend eternity repeating it. I found this story a bit confusing as it jumps through the years quite quickly. It was a bit dull really, just like their affair.

“The Token” is about a man who can’t express his love for his wife, so when she dies she comes back to find out if he really loved her. I enjoyed this story.

“The Flaw in the Crystal” is about a telepathic healer who finds it hard when the person she is healing finds out that she is the one keeping him healthy. This story was ok, but it was dragged out too long in my opinion.

“The Nature of the Evidence” is about a man who takes a new wife after his first wife dies. When he tries to go to his new wife’s bedroom he is visited by the ghost of his old wife.

“If the Dead Knew” is about a man who wishes his mother would hurry up and die, and she does.

“The Victim” is a murder story. A chauffeur murders his master and is then haunted by what he has done. I really liked this story.

“The Finding of the Absolute” is the story of an amateur philosopher who goes to heaven. Some of the ideas of heaven are interesting, but there were too many scientific explanations in this story and I found it confusing.

“The Intercessor” is a haunting story of a house haunted by a little girl who is looking for the love of her mother. This was my favourite story in the whole book, it was quite spooky.

Overall I enjoyed about half of the stories in the book, the other half I found a bit dull. ( )