Seth’s Christmas Ghost Stories are a wonderful way to spark some much-needed joy in your 2020 holiday season.
This year marks the sixth year Windsor bookshop and literary press Biblioasis has published Seth’s Christmas Ghost Stories, a collection of holiday ghost-themed titles. Each petite book features an old short story, reprinted and bound with the artwork of world-renowned cartoonist Seth.
This year’s short stories include Richard Bridgeman’s The Morgan Trust, Montague Rhodes James’ The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance, and Emily Oliphant’s The Open Door.
The stories tell tales of ghost towns, disappearing uncles, and haunted estates. They are more bewitching than frightening—just as most literary ghost stories are.
When I heard about Biblioasis’ attempt at reviving the Victorian tradition of reading ghost stories at Christmas, I jumped at the chance to learn more.
I have always loved spooky stories. James Joyce’s The Dead is one of my favourites. Reading Edgar Allan Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart was the highlight of my high school English career.
I grew up reading the works of children’s author Lemony Snicket. I loved the eerie and off-putting stories in A Series of Unfortunate Events, coupled with his impeccable vocabulary. His holiday children’s books were—and still are—a staple in my home.
When All the Wrong Questions, Snicket’s prequel to A Series of Unfortunate Events, was released, I was a little too old to appreciate its whimsy. However, I still engaged with their gorgeous cover art by Seth.
Seth’s illustrations, coupled with the nostalgia of the holiday ghost story make these books worthwhile to read. They remind me of Christmases of the past, and hopefully will carry me through to future holiday traditions: reading them by the fire on Christmas Eve and drinking a warm cup of cocoa.
While the stories—years old and surely available elsewhere—are lovely, they are nothing compared to the beauty of Seth’s illustrations and the excitement of a new tradition. Each story comes in its own bite-sized package, with an embossed cover and positioned as a perfectly-curated story.
They’re perfect for those of us who love literature yet can’t seem to find the time in our busy and distracting lives to sit down and read a book like we used to.
The writer received press copies of the books to review.
Featured image by Isabel Harder.
