The Old Nurse's Story

No cover — Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell: The Old Nurse's Story

(1 review)

After her parents pass away, young Rosamond is raised by her nurse in the ancestral home of her aunt, Miss Furnivall. One day the two uncover an exceptionally beautiful old portrait? A relative, distant or close? And is that the strange sound of a distant organ, or simply the wind?

Read for free on the University of Pennsylvania website web.english.upenn.edu/~nauerbac/story.html

After her parents pass away, young Rosamond is raised by her nurse in the ancestral home of her aunt, Miss Furnivall. One day the two uncover an exceptionally beautiful old portrait? A relative, distant or close? And is that the strange sound of a distant organ, or simply the wind?

Read for free on the University of Pennsylvania website web.english.upenn.edu/~nauerbac/story.html

1 edition

Stephanie Jane reviewed The Old Nurse's Story by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

A chilling Christmas Eve read

4 stars

I've picked out a Victorian classic for this year's Christmas Eve ghost story book review. The Old Nurse's Story by Elizabeth Gaskell is narrated by a now-elderly nurse recalling suitably ghostly and gothic happenings that took place over one Christmas in her youth. The story was first published in a collection of tales for reading aloud by a winter fire and I think The Old Nurse's Story lends itself perfectly to a performance as well as to solitary reading. All the ingredients are here from rugged, isolated moors to long-lost relations, a huge stately home (with a closed-off wing) and a violent storm to rattle the windowpanes. Despite its fairly short thirty-page length, Gaskell manages to create the feel of a fully-fledged novel with rounded and believable characters, and lots of unsettling atmosphere. I was actually reminded of moments in several other novels as I read - including Rebecca and …

I've picked out a Victorian classic for this year's Christmas Eve ghost story book review. The Old Nurse's Story by Elizabeth Gaskell is narrated by a now-elderly nurse recalling suitably ghostly and gothic happenings that took place over one Christmas in her youth. The story was first published in a collection of tales for reading aloud by a winter fire and I think The Old Nurse's Story lends itself perfectly to a performance as well as to solitary reading. All the ingredients are here from rugged, isolated moors to long-lost relations, a huge stately home (with a closed-off wing) and a violent storm to rattle the windowpanes. Despite its fairly short thirty-page length, Gaskell manages to create the feel of a fully-fledged novel with rounded and believable characters, and lots of unsettling atmosphere. I was actually reminded of moments in several other novels as I read - including Rebecca and The Woman In Black - most of which were written decades after The Old Nurse's Story. If you've already got all your present wrapping done, I recommend curling up with this tale for a chilling Christmas Eve read!