D. K. Broster 
Couching at the Door 

In this collection of dark, supernatural tales the esteemed author D. K. Broster gave full reign to her vivid imagination. Sometimes-as in "The Window" or "The Pestering, " or "All Soul’s Day"-these are what we might call ‘explainable’ ghost stories: apparitions or hauntings whose origin is to be found in some violent or unjust action in the past. Other stories, "Couching at the Door" and "From the Abyss, " have little or no explanation, even in supernatural terms. Add to these an elegant reworking of the Persephone myth, "The Taste of Pomegranates, " the downright bloodthirsty "Clairvoyance, " and the psychological studies, "The Promised Land" and "The Pavement" which so well merit the heading ‘Madness and Obsession’, and you have a collection to disturb and unsettle the strongest nerves.Literary historian Jack Adrian describes Couching at the Door as "a pure masterwork, one of the most satisfying weird collections of the century".