Review of “The Shadow” by Edith Nesbit: Halloween Countdown

Plot:

A girl faints during a dance at a country house over Christmas in Victorian-era Great Britain. She is sent to recover in a dressing room. Other girls sleep in a bedroom attached to the dressing room. Of course, they don’t sleep but sit up, telling each other ghost stories. While they’re scaring themselves, a knock comes at their door. It’s Miss Eastwich, the “housekeeper, companion, and general stand-by” of the narrator’s aunt. She noticed the light and thought the girls were up late. She doesn’t say much, but she’s concerned about the girl who fainted.

“She’s fast asleep,” the narrator assures her.

The youngest girl invites her in and offers her cocoa. The narrator confesses irritation toward the youngest, referring to her as “young, crude, ill-balanced, subject to blind, calf-like impulses.” The youngest explains to Miss Eastwich that they were telling ghost stories, but they don’t believe in ghosts—not one bit. She asks Miss Eastwich if she knows any ghost stories.

The narrator bristles. Prim and proper Miss Eastwich? Tell a ghost story?

She does. Twenty years earlier, her two best friends married. The implication is that she was in love with the guy. After a year or two, the guy invited her to stay with them while the wife was “ill,” delicately saying she was in the middle of a difficult pregnancy.

Miss Eastwich goes. She finds the wife “weak and excitable,” but the husband looking worse. Thinking he may be in debt or something of that sort, she doesn’t ask but waits for him to speak. He tells her of something wrong with the house, something he almost sees, almost hears…

Thoughts:

While Miss Eastwich describes her story as “hardly worth telling,” it becomes clear that there is more below the surface of this low-key ghost story. Dread, fear, and an unknown horror, barely perceived, haunt the new “warm and welcoming” house. Couple that with a difficult pregnancy and the very real danger of death in childbirth at the time,

This sad little tale may (according to some commenters) reflect something of Nesbit’s own living situation. The narrator respects Miss Eastwich, understanding her reserve almost to the point of not wishing to speak to her in order to avoid disturbing her. The youngest girl, whom the narrator despises, may speak of the pretty young things Nesbit’s philandering husband always seemed to be chasing. Miss Eastwich’s dear friends echo a situation closer to home. A close friend of Nesbit’s lived with her and her husband, only to be impregnated by him twice.

Few points in the story are scary. Dread and sorrow are most prevalent. What is it that Miss Eastwich’s friend almost sees? Why is she concerned about the present? Why does she agree to tell her story now? The youngest girl, whose misunderstandings might be funny in other contexts, are merely uncomfortable.

Much of the action takes place between the lines, in the context. The story takes a little patience. A quick, superficial read will disappoint.




Bio: British author Edith Nesbit Bland (1835-1915) is now best known for her several children’s book series: the Bastable series, the Psammead series, and the House of Arden series, among other children’s books. She wrote children’s tales of adventure, fantasy, and magic, as well as more realistic stories. Her best-known works include The Story of the Treasure Seekers (1899), The Wouldbegoods (1901), The Revolt of the Toys, What Comes of Quarreling (1902), and The Railway Children (1906).

Additionally, she wrote fiction for adults and poetry.

She and her husband, Hubert Bland, were among the founders of the Fabian Society, a democratic socialist organization that still exists. It attracted people such as George Bernard Shaw, a friend of the Blands. Its goal is to slowly bring about lasting social change rather than through sudden radical change or revolution. Nesbit and her husband edited the Society’s journal, Today, and entertained friends and colleagues at their home.



This story can be read here:


This story can be listened to here: (49:28)



Title: “The Shadow”
Author: Edith Nesbit (1858-1924)
First published: as “Portent of the Shadow” in the London magazine Black and White, December 23, 1905
Length: short story