My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Grove Atlantic for an advanced copy of this collection of ghost stories set in different time and places that horrify and make us both glad to be alive and not the characters in some of these short works.

I don't remember when I started liking scary stories. I do remember being young and going into the older readers area of the library and taking out either Alfred Hitchcock's Ghostly Gallery or Supernatural Tales, being both scared and wanting more, and checking those books out constantly. I don't think the fears ever went away, at least I don't remember them doing so. My nephews are the same way. Their big bête noire is something called Siren Head, a video they saw on YouTube both will try and scare the other with stories about Siren Head, 100 200 feet tall, everything is a siren, it can't die, and eats cars like the man from Mars. I added that. I think ghost stories are popular because they trigger that instinct inside, the feeling one gets when something bad has gone by, the sky seems more blue, the air seems more fresh. Maybe in these days of social media malaise we are just glad to feel something. Night Side of the River by the writer Jeanette Winterson is a collection of short stories that will definitely make the reader feel something, stories that touch on the many fears humans have, as well as the hopes we have to get us through.

The book begins with a fascinating essay about horror, why people write stories like this, a history of parapsychology, and the rise of ghosts talking and interfering in the lives of others, usually the living. What follows is sixteen stories, broken into four themes, Devices, Places Visitations, and People. The stories are generally the same length, ranging in time and space, from early to a bit in the future. but dealing with problems and fears that are common to us today. An app that allows the dead to converse and control from the grave. Virtual Reality software that traps people with ghosts, for reasons that don't seem clear. Haunted houses, from vast estates to vacations homes. My favourites are the smaller stories, the ones that focus on people rather than devices of places, these stories seemed to linger longer in my mind, probably because I consider most devices already possessed by evil.

Jeanette Winterson is one of the best and finest stylists working today. Essay, short story, long form, in whatever genre Winterson feels like writing, Winterson has a real skill for getting to th soul of the piece, finding what is important, and making it clear to the reader. These stories have a freshness to them, even the stories dealing with the past, that make them seem more alive, more real, even when dealing with the mournful and the dead. Only one maybe two stories I thought were weak, and that could have been the time I read them, reading them again tomorrow I might enjoy them more and see past their flaws. A collection of stories with solid, chills, and and a lot of things to think and wonder about.

If one has not read Frankisstein: A Love Story, also by Jeanette Winterson, these two books would work well together and make for a fascinating Halloween experience. The stories in here are very good, spooky, and with twists, sometimes making the horror worse, sometimes reminding that the real world is more awful and evil than any author could ever make up.

(3.75 stars) I have been drawn to Jeanette Winterson ever since reading her amazing little book The Passion. When I saw this volume of ghost stories available on NetGalley, I had to have it. What I found were some spooky tales of varying quality, some set in modern times and some set as early as the 19th century. Winterson’s unique writing style is on display in developing characters and haunting situations that are memorable even in short form. My favorite was the first story, App- arition, a very modern tale, where a deceased man haunts his (now-happy) surviving wife with texts and phone calls and other contemporary communication methods. Winterson sees endless possibilities for ghosts in the metaverse, as avatars blur the line between real and non-real online. This would be a good book to read in October. Several of the stories were really chilling and I’m hard to scare.

Most excellent ghost stories. As ever the literary talent of the author sparkles. Highly recommended. Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy.

If you're searching for a collection of short stories that not only captivates but also compels you to reflect, look no further than "Night Side of the River." The book is thoughtfully divided into four thematic parts, each resonating on its own while contributing to the overarching narrative.

The first two sections had me particularly enthralled—packed with spooky tales that successfully walk the tightrope between unsettling and poignant. The author's skill in weaving elements of love, loss, and grief into the fabric of each story is nothing short of masterful.

There was one story that even brought me to tears—a true testament to the emotive power of this book. It's a rarity to find a short story collection that isn't just a fleeting read, but something that stays with you, urging you to ponder long after the final page.

In "Night Side of the River," each story stands as a beautifully crafted, substantive piece that provokes thought and emotion. Highly recommended for those who enjoy tales that stimulate both the heart and mind.

3.5/5 - This is an interesting short story collection and, like many short story collections, had its ups and downs for me as a reader.

In some ways, it felt like Winterson really just wanted to research ghost stories, the ways ghosts manifest, and generally approach the topic from a more academic than fiction angle - this is made very clear in her intro, where she explains the structure of the books sections and discusses the history of ghosts in fiction.

I often enjoy learning about an author's thoughts behind their short story collections, but I prefer for those explanations to come at the end of the collection so that it doesn't color my experience as a reader. Coming in blind to a short story and seeing what you take from it is part of the joy of short fiction and over-explaining destroys some of the magic of breaking down each story on your own. The more intellectual sections + stories where characters mused on the metaphysical explicitly where the weakest moments for me and slowed down my reading experience.

However, I loved when Winterson committed to exploring her characters and the stories - A Fur Coat + Boots, The Door, No Ghost Ghost Story + The Undiscovered Country were my favorites by far in this collection. These stories were rich, their characters had depth, and I loved the unique twists each story took. The storylines that spanned two chapters were especially immersive in the ways they worked with each other, which I really enjoyed - although The Door was my absolute favorite. As a queer person, The Door gripped me from the beginning and I was so moved by the parallels between the two sets of lovers.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!

Ghosts come in all forms: people, places, things, even yourself. This is a theme that Jeanette Winterson explores in depth with her collection of short stories in Night Side of the River. Belief in ghosts or what comes after death is varied, as is experienced reality during life regardless of said beliefs. Each story takes a different approach, from familiar malevolent hauntings to partners who aren't ready to say goodbye despite being parted by death. The ghosts themselves also take many forms, and even integrate themselves within virtual reality, a medium where no one has physical form and therefore may be more accessible to those untethered from their bodies.

It is always difficult to comprehensively review short story compilations due to their varied nature, but this one was fascinating in its ability to provide so many different stories that all center on a singular theme. Where I expected to find simple gothic horror throughout, I instead encountered the multitude of ways in which we leave our lives unfinished. Ghosts can be angry, but they can also be sad, or unfulfilled, or caught in a love that was severed too soon. In seeing each experience of a life left incompletely lived, I walked away with lessons on what to do with the time I myself have.

This book didn't attempt to answer the questions it poses. I couldn't help but hope that it would try, but that would of course defeat the purpose. If there is definitive belief in the nature of ghosts, there is no longer any reason to portray them in different ways across a series of short stories. There is something to be said about the mystery itself, the way that the question of what comes after death is inevitable and yet unanswerable. In the end, it was soothing enough to know that I am not the only one who wonders about such things, that there are countless others who have thought about the same questions.

Oh my god, I'm completely blown away by this collection of spooky stories! I love everything about it - the fact that the setting in each is contemporary, the fact that some of the stories are very much rooted in the digital age we're living in and still somehow manage to carry the old world charm of the slow burn horror reveal. I'm a big fan of the subtle discomfort Jeanette Winterson creates through her stories while also centering women in this collection.

Very interesting read especially the opening section, but I'm afraid this isn't for me! I enjoyed the writing nevertheless.

This collection of ghost stories and personal anecdotes by Winterson was a disappointment--the stories weren't very original or compelling, although the personal anecdotes were more interesting than the fictional pieces. Winterson notes some of her influences, and they are very, very obvious, to the point of rewriting older works like those by M. R. James.

Jeanette Winterson has written some excellent ghost stories; I know that, or I'd never have requested this from Netgalley, given I'm by no means a completist with her work, especially recently. But the introduction gave me pause, jumping from era to era and topic to topic in a manner so hard to follow I initially thought there might be a problem with the file. I enjoy discursiveness, but here I couldn't see the connections - and even beyond the structure, there was a worrying tendency towards trendy vicar-ism: "Religion can be considered as humankind's first disruptive start-up - what's being disrupted is death." An impression which deepened when the first story was called App-arition and felt like an awkward retread of the Black Mirror episode about resurrecting a dead partner by scraping their digital presence.

Except even before that story was done, it went somewhere altogether different and more satisfying, and I was reminded to trust the tale if not the teller. This experience would repeat itself, though in less pronounced fashion, throughout the collection; the odd clunking line, or forced set-up, particularly where the modern world is concerned, threatening to spoil the spell - only for Winterson to pull things around because whatever her jagged relationship with the now, she certainly knows how to spin a yarn. The stories proper are interspersed with accounts of her own odd experiences, a combination which helps to set the proper mood, recalling reading ghost stories as a child, not knowing which were meant to be true or even altogether understanding that this might be a distinction that applies. Boundaries are further blurred by the situations in some of the stories; it's a commonplace of the genre for a ghost story to open with the telling of ghost stories, but one update of that here sees a real spirit intrude on a ghost-themed dinner event that was already tricked out with special effects, and the ingenious, heartbreaking No Ghost Ghost Story is as good as its word, unless it isn't. Though I was puzzled for other reasons by The Door, which I've previously read in English Heritage's Eight Ghosts anthology, except both the story's name and that of the castle where it takes place were different. Spooky shifting of the world, or just rights issues?

Ok, I love Jeanette Winterson. I started this in the middle of a blistering summer heatwave, got a handful of stories in, and thought that I really must save this for Halloween. I cannot wait to pick up a hard copy when it’s published and tuck in during spooky season!! The theme of the collection is so neat.

Thank you very much to Atlantic Monthly and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and give an honest review of this book. I went into reading this collection having read other books by Winterson and thinking that I would find at least one or two stories to use for my classes. Indeed, there are several very strong stories in this collection, and there's at least one that I would use in my classroom to teach contemporary supernatural fiction or creative writing. For me, this is a win (it's hard to find stories to teach).
The stories are organized into sections and the stories in each have similar themes. For example, the first section deals with the metaverse as a possibility of the ghostly. Some stories in each section were the same story from different perspectives. Some were set in the same universe or with the same/similar characters and alternate plotlines. While I really enjoyed the technique of expanding the universe of the story by extending it over several stories, I didn't really understand the point of the alternate plotlines with the same/similar characters. It would have been far more interesting, in my opinion, just to include one of each and allow the reader to sit with the ambiguity. For example, there was a set of two stories that seemed inspired by "Turn of the Screw," and the I felt that I would rather have had them somehow combined instead of told from different perspectives. Though the plot and characters were strong, and the stories have stuck with me, stylistically, that bothered me. Stylistically, the only complaint I had was that some passages contained what seemed like long historical tangents that the author had been inspired by but added nothing to the plot. In the short story "Thin Air" for example, I didn't need to know the entire history of the town or why the people were there; the way the plot evolves after that is so natural and compelling, the beginning felt clunky.

In any case, this collection would definitely be appropriate for anyone who enjoyed reading ghost stories by Henry James or Daphne du Maurier's short fiction. I enjoyed the canonical references and much of the writing. I also recommend this book to colleagues who teach contemporary supernatural fiction.

3.5/5 stars.

4.5 stars

I was initially curious and even sceptical as to whether Ms Winterson could pull this off. This collection of supernatural ghostly stories seemed an altogether unconventional departure from her customary genre, which I have always enjoyed.

However, I was not disappointed. In fact, I was utterly enthralled, although reading the collection in bed, directly before sleep, is perhaps best avoided. I plan to purchase a copy and recommend this as a future read for our Book Club.

The only minor gripe I had was with the introduction. It felt more like a non-fiction lecture on the history of all things supernatural. I think the stories are strong enough to stand alone without this preface.

My thanks to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for granting this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Jeanette Winterson may not be generally associated with horror, but it is a genre which she has, on occasion, explored. A few years back, when Hammer had started a literary imprint, she was one of the authors commissioned to contribute to the catalogue. The result was The Daylight Gate, a feverish novella inspired by the Pendle Witch trials. Elements of the Gothic also permeate her most recent novel Frankisstein. She now returns to horror with Night Side of the River, a collection of original ghost stories interspersed with her ruminations on the otherwordly and accounts of her own “real life” encounters with the supernatural.

The thirteen stories which make up this collection are divided into four sections, based on their subject and approach. The opening section, Devices, is possibly the most interesting, and explores a theme which Winterson revisits in her last “personal” essay in the book – The Future of Ghosts. She portrays the possibility of the metaverse and virtual reality being new dimensions where ghosts may come home to roost. Winterson’s stories in this section are original, unusual and creepy.

The other sections of the collection are, possibly, more traditional in conception. Places, unsurprisingly, presents us with stories where the hauntings are intimately connected to their physical setting. People has more intimate tales, including the ironically titled “No Ghost Ghost Story” a poignant tale of loss and grief. The final section, Visitations, includes some of the stronger works in the collection, including the title piece Night Side of the River, a genuinely macabre horror story about the decidedly repulsive ghost of a hanged smuggler whose corpse was disposed of in the Thames.

I am always intrigued to read horror literature by authors who are not best known for the genre. All in all, this is a strong and enjoyable collection. I found the combination of technology and old-fashioned hauntings in Devices particularly interesting. Ironically, the most disappointing part of the book is probably the introduction, in which Winterson tries to give a quick and personal overview of the treatment of death and ghosts in different cultures around the world, and of the literary tradition of the ghost story. The problem is that there is very little room for the vast subject to be given anything but a cursory examination. Traditions surrounding death are described in a whistle-stop tour (which, however, does find the time to direct a couple of digs to the Catholic Church), before Winterson moves on to the ghost story, which is inexplicably and unhelpfully confused with the Gothic genre (most ghost stories would count as “gothic” but Gothic fiction is rarely just about ghosts...). This introduction nearly put me off the book, which would have been a pity. Read on, my friends, read on.

https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/2023/07/Night-Side-of-the-River-Ghost-Stories-Jeanette-Winterson.html

Jeanette Winterson's prose never fails to enchant and transport me. This collection of ghost stories, divided into themed sections exploring AI, people, and place, has a timeless feel. The AI / technology section poses many interesting questions and reads like a curated selection of Black Mirror episodes exploring reality, consciousness, and afterlife by design. The remaining stories are less speculative but lose nothing for it. Winterson's ghost stories are classic, queer, ethereal, and haunting (whether fearfully or sadly) and will sit with you long after you read them. Highly recommend whether you're a new or returning fan.

There are some super interesting ideas in this collection about what the future of ghosts and hauntings might look like, and those stories sparked a lot of conversations with my partner. (Thank you for the dinner conversations that kept us talking at the table long after we had finished eating!)

Thank you for the opportunity to read these! I've loved Jeanette Winterson's novels, including The Passion and the The Stone Gods and I've gifted them many times to friends, so imagine my delight for this author's voice and ghost stories, which I love. I found these at turns haunting and lyric and pragmatic, and will be recommending them to fellow fans of spooky season.

A great collection of spooky tales from an extremely talented author. Every story stayed with me and kept me interested. Love her writing.