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    The Turn of the Screw and Owen Wingrave
    The Turn of the Screw and Owen Wingrave
    The Turn of the Screw and Owen Wingrave
    Ebook216 pages3 hours

    The Turn of the Screw and Owen Wingrave

    By Henry James and Kate Mosse

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Designed to appeal to the booklover, the Macmillan Collector’s Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector’s Library are books to love and treasure. This edition of Henry James’s classic ghost stories features an afterword by bestselling author Kate Mosse OBE.

    A young governess is employed to look after two orphaned siblings in a grand country house. Isolated and inexperienced, she is at first charmed by the children – but gradually suspects that they may not be as innocent as they seem. She soon begins to see sinister figures at the window, but do they exist solely in her imagination, or are they ghosts intent on a terrible and devastating task? The Turn of the Screw by Henry James is one of the most famous and eerily equivocal ghost stories ever written.

    Owen Wingrave is the story of a son in a long line of military heroes who refuses to follow tradition, yet proves his bravery in a haunted room.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPan Macmillan
    Release dateSep 6, 2018
    ISBN9781509881208
    The Turn of the Screw and Owen Wingrave
    Author

    Henry James

    Henry James (1843–1916) was an American writer, highly regarded as one of the key proponents of literary realism, as well as for his contributions to literary criticism. His writing centres on the clash and overlap between Europe and America, and The Portrait of a Lady is regarded as his most notable work.

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    Reviews for The Turn of the Screw and Owen Wingrave

    3.5/5

    2,156 ratings40 reviews

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    • 4/5
      This story is about a young lady who work in a rich house as governess.She looks after two children.Their name are Flora and Miles.They enjoyed living in that house.But they get to realize existence of ghost.I think she is very brave woman.If I saw a ghost,I move immediately and quit job.Perhaps I couldn't think about two children and protect them.
    • 3/5
      The antiquated grammar and long sentences makes this book a little difficult to read. However, once the cadence is mastered, the story is filled with brilliant insights. The great thing about this book is that it can be read at face value as a ghost story or more in depth as a psychological and sexual thriller.
    • 4/5
      I don't think it has to be interpreted as either/or imagination or ghosts. I think it can be both. I also think there's some interesting things implied about the relationship between the governess and the older boy.
    • 3/5
      Not much to say about this one. It had great potential to be a really creepy Halloween tale, but just fell flat for me.

      The writing was very good and typical of the writing in the late 1800s.
    • 2/5
      A tale of a ghost in Victorian England.
    • 4/5
      I like the ambiguity of the ghosts, it is the redeeming aspect of the story. Otherwise, I am convinced that woman is crazy and much of the dialogue seemed annoyingly unrealistic. "oh you know you know!" I guess no one could speak plainly back then? It is a quick read. I gave four insead of three stars because I think some aspects just didn't translate over time and the book deserves some credit for originaity when written.
    • 4/5
      Terrific and short little ghost story -- ends with lots of unanswered questions. As I was reading, the tone really reminded me of the movie "The Others." After finishing the book I found out that the movie is in fact very loosely based on the book. This is one of the books referenced on "Lost" as well.
    • 1/5
      Against my better judgment, I read this, my second Henry James story. So tedious! The exquisite sensitivities of his protagonist are absurd and prevent her from achieving a simple solution on every page. The protagonist and James' prose were exasperating enough to overwhelm the psychological tension and creepiness that this story is supposed to exhibit so well. William remains my favorite of the James brothers, for sure. I'll do my best to avoid Henry in the future.
    • 2/5
      Intense? No. Boring.
    • 3/5
      I really wanted to find this scary, but it's just too Victorian for me to take it seriously. (Oh, the scandal of a governess having a romantic fling! Oh, the horrors of young children keeping secrets from their elders! *sigh*)
    • 1/5
      Disappointing ending. I wanted more talk from the men in the room in which the story was being told. Annoying superfluous narratives.
    • 3/5
      This book by Henry James is a ghost story. The story is told by an unnamed governess who takes her first job as governess of two children. She is delighted with her charges but soon thinks they are scheming against her and then she gets them alone and accuses them. The author's style is ambiguous and I have more questions than answers after reading this novella.
    • 1/5
      I've never read any Henry James before (a terrible admission for an English graduate) so I really wanted to love this book. I didn't.I thought the language was stilted and unnecessary, the story was something and nothing hugely padded out with superfluous narrative and the characters two dimensional. Plus it didn't scare me at all. Some ghost story!!
    • 3/5
      A second chance at Henry James. This one was still pretty wordy, but it pulled you along. Are there really ghosts? Do the others see them or know? Are they evil spirits? What is it they want?

      There is a tension that runs through the whole book that ebbs and flows. There is also the thought that maybe some one is mad.

      Definitely a good ghost story.
    • 3/5
      A little novel about a dear little boy and a dear little girl, who are plagued by ghosts of of their previous caretakers, who may or may not have taken part in little perversions. The little children live in a mansion full of little rooms, run by a governess who may be a little crazy. The plot suffers from a little bit of ambiguity. I guess it's time to read a dozen critical essays on this classic. Until then, 3 - more than a little generous - stars.
    • 5/5
      A great edition of the FIRST edition of Henry James's most popular story.
    • 5/5
      Haunting and haunted and ambiguous. Don't read this for a pat ending.
    • 4/5
      Very interesting gothic ghost (maybe?) story. Wonderful unreliable narrator who may be mad and imagining the whole thing. Or maybe the ghosts are real. Or perhaps she is mad, but isn't imagining it at all.
    • 5/5
      Even though the English is not the easiest, the books reads like a charm. The turn of the screw really is a great story that gets under your skin.
    • 4/5
      Tangled Victorian prose spoils this otherwise good ghost story. The scene where the governess meets the spectre of Peter Quint on the stairs is genuinely scary. I don't think I would read this one again just for enjoyment, so I'm going to register & release it on BookCrossing.
    • 4/5
      Is the absence of explanations that makes this book interesting. Too many unknowns and just some answers
    • 4/5
      Read this about 4 times in college, and I was thinking about it today (thinking about how much I enjoyed discussing literature at length and writing essays about my crazy interpretations). I enjoyed arguing a thesis about what was actually haunting the house...I believe I argued that it was a forbidden lust or something.
    • 4/5
      I honestly don't remember much about this now? It was neither as impressive nor as unimpressive as I have heard. Fairly atmospheric, decent ambiguous ending. I'm glad I read it, if only because now I will get it when other books or movies are referencing it.
    • 3/5
      You know, it's good. I just don't like Mr. James' style. Oi! with all the goddamn commas! It's halting and unnecessary. I did, however, enjoy the story. Deep, engaging, suspenseful, everything you'd want in a ghost story. It's just his style. I can't get into it. I finally, in the last 20 pages or so, figured out how to tolerate his style: ignore the commas. It worked capitally. It was almost like reading Dickens.

      In all, I recommend this book, I just don't prefer it.
    • 5/5
      I was gripped by this short tale of supernatural goings on. What was real, who was the ghost, was the protagonist what she seemed? The flow of the language on the page was like the flow of speech. I couldn't keep myself from reading on, I had to know what happened.
    • 3/5
      I had never gotten around to reading this classic ghost story and it seemed appropriate for the pre-Halloween season. I am sure it was shocking in its time, but compared to Stephen King or Dean Koontz it's pretty tame.
    • 4/5
      A Victorian Ghost Story about the evils of men and the fear of the uncivilized... WE find a governess who is duty bound to protect the children in her charge from the things that go bump in the night. The story presents the isolation caused by a guarded Victorian rectified World.
    • 4/5
      Narrated by Emma Thompson, I enjoyed re-reading this classic, gothic novella for the third time.

      I know many readers are not impressed by this book, but I enjoyed it, (again). I know it's rather verbose, especially considering the length of the book, but I found more than a few of the sentences to be outright chilling.

      I've always loved psychological horror and ambiguous stories, so this one hits most of the marks for me. My original rating of the book, at 4 stars, stands.
    • 4/5
      Henry James. Reading is work is like wading through a jungle of commas and just before you can't take any more coming across something that is beautiful. Like eating chicken wings in Heaven; you’ve still got to work too damn hard for a little that is sublime.Everyone knows the story. It’s worth reading and the percentage of commas to sentence does fall after the first half.
    • 2/5
      Nogal moeilijk verhaal over verschijningen; de lezer wordt op het verkeerde been gezet. Thema's: onschuld kinderen, overbescherming door volwassenen.

    Book preview

    The Turn of the Screw and Owen Wingrave - Henry James

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