The Beckoning Fair One

The Beckoning Fair One is sometimes called the greatest ghost story in the English language; it may well be. Certainly it is one of the questest and most beautiful supernatural tales ever written. It reminds the reader of Shirley Jackson's "The Haunting of Hill House" -- and that is huge praise indeed.

The story tells of British novelist Paul Oleron, who lives restlessly in cramped quarters, looking -- as writers do -- for some way not to work on the project at hand. That is when he sees a v...