Penguin Horror

Step into the terrifying world of ghostly apparitions, grotesque monsters and terrible, creeping dread – but be careful, who knows if you'll make it out alive?

This collection brings together ten of the greatest literary horror stories every written, from Mary Shelley’s iconic tale of a ‘body swap’ gone wrong, to Edgar Allen Poe's terrifying account of a great family’s downfall, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s chilling description of female subjugation. A treasure trove of scares and spooks, Classic Horror: An Anthology is a timeless celebration of all that curdles the blood and goes bump in the night …

Like moths to a flame, people are drawn to Dower House. To see the estate in dappled sunlight, to feel the breeze blown in from the river, is to forever be in love. Among those caught in its spell are James and Nemo Boyce, who quickly buy it, and Professor Harry Harris, who becomes captivated by both the house and its new mistress. But an uninvited guest soon corrupts their paradise, and quickly reveals the dark heart of the home...

A tour-de-force of chest-tightening tension, Moths, one of the great gothic horrors of twentieth century, is an extraordinary tale of possession and sinister seduction.

‘A magical novel, passionate, exciting, and beautifully written’ Iris Murdoch

Known for writing some of the most incisive and elegant novels of the early twentieth century, Edith Wharton was also a master practitioner of the ghost story, producing dozens of frightful tales throughout her lifetime. Combining pristine prose with strange, suffocating atmospheres and profound sense of the uncanny, this collection of her very best haunting narratives detail spectral handwriting, isolated houses in lonely landscapes, and a husband with a terrible secret…

‘Masterly stories of horror and unease’ New Yorker

Joan Flower is long dead when she first appears to Samuel Fleming, a priest plagued by doubts about her and her daughters’ execution for witchcraft. Did he do all he could to rescue them from damnation? From beyond the grave, Joan reveals to him the spine-chilling tale of her seduction by Satan, her temptation of her own daughters to the Devil’s coven, her murderous sacrifices, and her final rejection by both Heaven and Hell – yet Samuel still strives for a way to redeem her sins.
Over their terrifying conversations, Samuel learns the way of the witches’ sabbath and comes to the dark realisation that Joan’s soul may not be the only one in need of saving...

Based on real seventeenth-century witch trials in Lincolnshire, The Witch and the Priest is a masterpiece of historical atmosphere and psychological horror.

‘Strange terror fills this tale of seventeenth-century witchcraft … horrific and written with much skill.’ Daily Telegraph