The Joss; A Reversion. a Reversion

by Richard Marsh

Book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1901. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER III. THE DOLL. I DO not know what it was, but something prevented Mrs. Galloway from giving us the sort of talking to I had expected. She is a woman with as nasty a tongue as you would care to meet. I had never before known her lose a chance of using it. And there was a chance! But, instead, there she stood mumchance, and before she had even so much as said a word, Emily and I were off upstairs. I was on the second floor, and Emily was on the third. When I stopped to go into my room I called out to her, " Good night!" but she ran on, and never answered. She was in such a state of mind, what with the fright, and her crying, and the cold biting us through and through while we waited on the doorstep, that all she cared for was to get between the sheets. In my room most of the girls were wide awake. It was not a large room, so there were only nine of us, and that was including Miss Ashton. She was the senior assistant, a regular frump, thirty if a day. She came to bed a quarter of an hour after we did, and after she had come to bed no one was supposed to talk. If any girl did talk Miss Ashton reported her, and the girl was fined, and half the fine, whatever it was, went into Miss Ashton's pockets. So, of course--since, sometimes, her pockets were bulging out with our money --no love was lost between us. When I went in, although I knew that most of the girls were awake, because of Miss Ashton no one spoke a syllable, until Lucy Carr, who had the next bed to mine, whispered as I stood by her: "Whatever have you been up to?" "I've been nearly robbed and murdered, that's what I've been up to." "Miss Blyth, I shall report you for talking after midnight." This was Miss Ashton, cold, and hard, and short as usual. Trust her to go to sleep while there was a chance to sna...

Genres: Classics, Horror, Gothic, 19th Century, British Literature, Victorian, Fiction

86 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1901

About the author

Richard Marsh was the pseudonym of the English author born Richard Bernard Heldmann. A best-selling and prolific author of the late 19th century and the Edwardian period, Marsh is best known now for his supernatural thriller novel The Beetle, which was published the same year as Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897), and was initially even more popular, outselling Dracula six times over. The Beetle remained in print until 1960. Marsh produced nearly 80 volumes of fiction and numerous short stories, in genres including horror, crime, romance and humour. Many of these have been republished recently, beginning with The Beetle in 2004. Marsh's grandson Robert Aickman was a notable writer of short "strange stories".

Reviews

[J. Rubino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mary "Polly" Blythe and her best friend Emily Purvis are fired from their jobs and left with a few shillings, when Polly is informed that her uncle has died and left her an income and a house - though the house comes with a set of bizarre conditions. One of them is that she must inhabit the house with a female companion, and so Polly and Emily take possession of the eerie, rat-infested and seemingly haunted residence. En route to the house, they are accosted by a number of strange characters who demand that she return "the Great Joss" and once inside the house, the girls are separated and Polly vanishes.
Emily escapes the house and is rescued by the attorney who had represented Polly in the matter of her inheritance, the attorney's home is invaded by threatening characters who also demand to have "the Great Joss" returned. The attorney and Emily are, in turn, rescued by a sailor whose strange adventure sheds light on what - and who - "the Great Joss" is.
Using his familiar device of multiple narrators, Richard Marsh opens with a Victorian melodrama that takes on a supernatural tone - though there is, for the most part - a real world explanation for Polly's legacy, her strange pursuers and "the Great Joss." Though some of the passages are a bit florid and overlong, Marsh once again is not shy about weaving two or more genres together. It may be considered a companion to his more famous novel "The Beetle," - I didn't like it quite as much as I enjoyed "The Twickenham Peerage," which may be my favorite book of the year, but still recommend it for its suspense and originality.

[Mbuye · Rating 3 out of 5]

This 1901 novel by suspense and horror novelist Richard Marsh takes us on a wild journey to remote and unheard of islands across the world, ending in a ramshackle, dilapidated empty (?) house in a disreputable street in London. The creepiest part is when a tired young woman, an assistant in a draper’s emporium is given a legacy of money, the empty house with its furniture under a bizarre will full of conditions, the main being that she should occupy the house, again hemmed in by those conditions. Being a woman of character and determination, she proceeds to the house, and there begins to break every one of the rules imposed on her, with results that may be expected.

The story is well-plotted, with the well-known Marsh gimmick of multiple narrators, each of whom fills in a part of the puzzle. As the mystery grows murkier, while shedding light at the same time on the events, the suspense grows, until the story ends with an unexpected fizzle, followed by an epilogue, consisting mainly of pairings-off, some very unlikely!

Not the best of Marsh, but still, filled with tense expectation and dread. Indeed, if this was his weakest creation, think just how good the best must be!

[Justin sabe · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Joss is a proto horror novel that has the fun narrative device of following every main character's point of view one at a time for them to tell their piece to make a full story. The story does involve a Joss which is a Chinese idol. It doesn't paint an entire culture with one brush but it does have focus on a religious sect and some of their practices that are quite upsetting. The changing POV every few chapters is a little disorienting but makes quite a ride picking up where other stories end and make putting everything together a fun trip.

[David Way · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting old book. Just sort of strange and funny I really loved it . Sort of Seinfeld esque where all this weird stuff Happens and then the back story is told and it all Makes sense…

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an audio book from LibriVox.


http://librivox.org/the-joss-a-revers...