This set of short stories could be subtitled Tales of Spiritual Starvation. A duchess sweeps cheeses and fruit into her handbag at a charity event; market gardeners wade through produce but can barely set a table of food for their children or themselves; other children grow into desiccated high-flyers.

There is little outright cruelty. Usually the suffering is caused by people (usually women) who are simply stripped clean of imagination or emotional generosity. Mild affectionateness covers the chill incapacity to love.

There are quite a few ghosts, real or otherwise. The stories move back and forth across the border of the supernatural. But I believe the author always uses ghosts simply as a device to sketch character and real-world circumstance, like an actor using space off-stage, or a photographer ready to perch in any awkward or risky spot to catch the image. Nuns also come into it more than once.

The last three pieces are connected under the title "Telegony", a study of the complex interweave of mother and daughter, and its lingering effects.

The cover of the edition I read is taken from the painting The Harvest is the End of the World and the Reapers are Angels by Roger Wagner. It is the only depiction of Judgement Day that I have ever found frightening. ( )

One of the things that I especially enjoyed about Going into a Dark House was the consistent sense of satisfaction after each story. I spread them out over a month's time and made sure not to rush. Even if I wanted to read on, after reading one of the stories, I forced myself to set the collection aside and pick up something else instead, which added to my sense of satisfaction I think. It felt like reading an Alice Munro collection, I just wanted to "have" the next story, not even caring about subject or style, only wanting her voice, the sometimes-cozy and sometimes-eerie and sometimes-ironic resolution she offers at their conclusions.One of my favourite stories was "The Damascus Plum" which considers the way in which one shares one's home, one's pleasures, and one's foibles in the context of a brief, imposed intimacy, and not only the differing ways in which two people can experience the same events, but the impact of memory on impressions of a shared experience. For the most part, it's the overall construction and execution of her stories that I appreciate, but sometimes a bit of language jumps out. For a longer review (and examples of her use of language), you can visit BIP here. ( )

As ever, a superlative collection of short stories in Jane Gardam's familiar settings of Yorkshire and London. I especially enjoyed the three inter-connected final stories (Telegony) about Molly Fielding, her mother and daughter.
Bevis was also a superb evocation with a lovely twist at the end. ( )