The Invisible Eye

Description

Published in 2018 by HarperCollins.

Emile Erckmann and Louis Alexandre Chatrian began their writing partnership in the 1840s and continued working together until the year before Chatrian’s death in 1890. At the height of their powers they were known as ‘the twins’, and their works proved popular translated into English. After their deaths, however, they slipped into obscurity; and apart from the odd tale reprinted in anthologies, their work has remained difficult to find and to appreciate.

In The Invisible Eye, veteran horror anthologist Hugh Lamb has collected together the finest weird tales by Erckmann–Chatrian. The world of which they wrote has long since vanished: a world of noblemen and peasants, enchanted castles and mysterious woods, haunted by witches, monsters, curses and spells. It is a world brought to life by the vivid imagination of these authors and praised by successors including M.R. James and H. P. Lovecraft. With an introduction by Hugh Lamb, and in paperback for the first time, this collection will transport the reader to the darkest depths of the nineteenth century: a time when anything could happen – and occasionally did.

Contents

Introduction – Hugh Lamb
The Invisible Eye
The Owl’s Ear
The White and the Black
The Burgomaster in Bottle
My Inheritance
The Wild Huntsman
Lex Talionis
The Crab Spider
The Mysterious Sketch
The Three Souls
A Legend of Marseilles
Cousin Elof’s Dream
The Citizen’s Watch
The Murderer’s Violin
The Child Stealer
The Man-Wolf

Praise

…plenty to enjoy and hopefully those examples will have given a hint of the variety in the content of the stories. Despite my lower rating of the later stories, I enjoyed the collection overall both for itself and for the interest of reading stories from authors outside the usual British/American bubble in which I live in terms of horror. Recommended.

Amazon Reviewer
Read full review on Amazon

Other Editions

Hardcover – Published in 2002 by Ash-Tree Press

Buy the Book

Available to Buy