The Relations and What They Related and other weird tales
by GM Robins (Edited by Richard
Dalby)
(Sarob Press, £25/$42.50, 173 + xii pages, hardback; 2003; ISBN: 1902309294.)
The Relation and What They Related... by GM Robins (Mrs Baillie
Reynolds) is the latest volume in the excellent series Mistresses
of the Macabre, edited by Richard Dalby and published by Robert
Morgan (Sarob Press). This new collection, eagerly awaited by anyone
who is lucky enough to possess a copy of the previous five volumes,
provides yet another refreshing voyage into the last century, a time
when writers knew how to tell a story with a beginning, a plot and an
ending.
Not surprisingly, the original collection was built on the favourite
Victorian setting of a group of friends or relations taking turns to
relate spooky stories around a fireplace at Christmas time.
Ten stories were initially included, of which only seven were of supernatural
nature. One of the remaining three stories was rather unsatisfactory
and was substitued with a further ghostly tale in the second edition
of the book. The above eight tales constitute the core of the current
Sarob edition.
The ghost story lover will certainly enjoy the stories, although the
themes and the situations described therein do sound rather conventional:
the premonition of a deadly fate remains uncomprehended; the ghost of
an unhappy child haunts a house; the ghostly proprietor of a hidden
treasure takes his revenge; an uncanny pianist brings into the open
unsuspected family ties; a man is mysteriously summoned to court to
save an innocent; the last walk of a man towards his own deathplace
goes on for ever; a long-standing family curse is finally lifted; a
young lady returns from the dead to have her portrait painted. The lack
of originality of the plots is counteracted by Robins' skill in producing
comfortable, predicatable frissons, which gently entertain the
reader.
Three more stories from the author's other collections reprinted in
the present volume are consistent with Robins' style and choice of themes
(haunted houses or haunted objects), with an unexpected variation in
"The Haunting of White Gates", where we meet the spectre of a living
person (actually her younger self), unaware of the supernatural side
of her own existence.
A non-supernatural, macabre tale from the Strand magazine ("A
Witch-burning") adds a bitter, realistic taste to the book.
To praise once again editor and publisher of this delicious series
of books may sound monotonous, but it is necessary. The final touch
that will delight the collectors of the genre is the reproduction of
some of original artwork from the first edition of The Relations
and What They Related, black-and-white illustrations which are naive
and fascinating at the same time.
Review by Mario Guslandi.
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