The Beckoning Fair One - Softcover

Onions, Oliver

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0809500310 ISBN 13: 9780809500314

Publisher: Wildside Press, 2007

Synopsis

The Beckoning Fair One is sometimes called the greatest ghost story in the English language; it may well be. Certainly it is one of the questest and most beautiful supernatural tales ever written. It reminds the reader of Shirley Jackson's "The Haunting of Hill House" -- and that is huge praise indeed.

The story tells of British novelist Paul Oleron, who lives restlessly in cramped quarters, looking -- as writers do -- for some way not to work on the project at hand. That is when he sees a vast and beautiful old house for rent. He takes the first floor and moves in. When his friend Elsie Benbough comes to visit, weirdness begins. The house, it seems, does not like Elsie and begins to inflict minor but mean-spirited injuries upon her. Feeling the presence of something evil, she warns Oleron that he will never be able to work there. But Oleron is entranced . . . and then in love . . . and soon obsessed. . . .

About this title

About the Author

George Oliver Onions (1873 - 1961), who published under the name Oliver Onions, was a British writer of short stories and over 40 novels. He wrote in a variety of genres but is perhaps best remembered for his ghost stories, notably the highly regarded collection Widdershins and the widely anthologized novella "The Beckoning Fair One." He was married to the novelist Berta Ruck. Originally trained as a commercial artist, he worked as a designer of posters and books and as a magazine illustrator during the Boer War. Encouraged by the American writer Gelett Burgess, Onions began writing fiction. The first editions of his novels were published with dust jackets bearing full-colour illustrations painted by Onions himself.

Edition details

• Publisher: Wildside Press
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0809500310
• ISBN 13: 9780809500314
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 90