Tom Ossington's Ghost

Marsh, Richard, 1857-1915Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 265K words
Chapters: 27

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Tom Ossington's Ghost by Richard MarshAuthor: Marsh, Richard, 1857-1915,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Aug 8, 2012

Editor's review

Richard Marsh is known for ghost stories and sensational fiction, and Tom Ossington's Ghost, judging by its title, invites the expectation of a straightforward tale of the supernatural; in practice it reads more like a mystery-tinged novel of incident: puzzles are set down in everyday settings, characters waver between reason and unease, and the reader is drawn along with them. Marsh's storytelling is direct, and he is adept at using short chapters and dialogue to keep the pace moving; the reading is effortless, yet at key moments he creates suspense that makes you pause. As a public-domain electronic text, the book preserves the language of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century English popular fiction; its sentences are more elaborate than those of modern novels, but on the whole it remains readable. It suits being read in a single sitting at night or over a weekend, and it also serves as a sample for observing how the ghost story moved from the Gothic tradition toward modern popular narrative. If you are expecting gore and terror, you may find it restrained; if what you like is atmosphere, puzzle, and the unhurried assurance of old-fashioned storytelling, this book offers a rewarding reading experience.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy late Victorian and Edwardian ghost stories and tales of mystery
Readers looking for an English public-domain entertainment of moderate length and direct pacing
Literature enthusiasts interested in the transition from the Gothic tradition to modern popular narrative
Intermediate learners with some grounding in English who are willing to adapt to older syntax

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking the intense shocks and graphic violence of modern horror fiction
Learners wholly unable to adapt to late nineteenth-century English long sentences and archaic expressions
Hardcore mystery readers expecting rigorous deduction or complex twists
Academic readers in need of author research materials or an authoritative annotated edition

Reading tips

Choose a quiet evening for reading and pause at chapter breaks; it is easier to enter the mysterious atmosphere that way
Mark archaic expressions as you go and return to them after finishing the chapter, so as not to interrupt the rhythm too often
After finishing, look back at the opening chapters and note the details and atmospheric groundwork the author laid
Read it alongside ghost stories by contemporaries and observe how Marsh handles suspense and everyday settings

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book really frightening?

It leans more toward mystery and suspense than toward gore in the modern sense. Marsh is good at building an uneasy atmosphere and a puzzle, but he is restrained overall; readers feel curiosity and tension more than direct fright. Readers who like atmospheric ghost stories will adapt to it more easily.

Is the "Ghost" in the title an actual ghost?

The title carries a ghost-story flavor, but whether the plot bears this out is for the reader to judge. The work belongs to the tradition of mystery-plot fiction that Marsh excelled in, with its emphasis on puzzle and atmosphere rather than on merely displaying supernatural phenomena. It is best approached with an open mind.

How difficult is the English?

The language belongs to late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century English popular fiction; the syntax is more elaborate than in modern works, but the narrative is direct and there is plenty of dialogue, so intermediate readers can finish it with a dictionary. If you rarely read old-fashioned English, try a chapter first before deciding.

Is this book suitable as an introduction to the ghost-story tradition?

Yes. It is moderate in length and clear in narrative, and it illustrates the ghost story's transition from Gothic atmosphere to popular plot. For a systematic understanding of the genre, it is worth reading short stories by other writers of the same period alongside it for comparison; the picture will then be more complete.

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About the author

Marsh, Richard, 1857-1915 Author

Richard Marsh (1857-1915) was a British novelist of the late Victorian and Edwardian periods, known for intricately plotted tales of mystery and suspense. Twenty-one of his works are held here, the best known being The Beetle: A Mystery, which belongs to the popular "monster novel" tradition of its day and echoes contemporary Gothic horror; A Second Coming draws on religious and apocalyptic themes. Other titles, such as Amusement Only, A Duel, Between the Dark and the Daylight, Miss Arnott's Marriage, Tom Ossington's Ghost and A Woman Perfected, range across the supernatural, crime, marriage and suspenseful adventure. Public information is limited and biographical details remain obscure, but his work shows a gift for atmosphere and startling twists, making him a name worth noting in the study of late Victorian popular fiction and horror literature.