To Be Read at Dusk Synopsis

To Be Read at Dusk

 Dickens tells the story of five couriers, men who helped people travel in foreign countries in the period, who ‘talk of ghosts’. Sitting in the mountains outside a convent, high up in the Swiss Alps, couriers from Genoa and Germany take it in turns to talk of strange circumstances and their clients. These happenings include an English bride haunted by a face and a strange bedside visit.

 
The Story in context

 This short ghost story was first published in 1852 in The Keepsake, a literary journal. In 1844, through to 1845, Dickens himself lived in Italy and travelled to Switzerland through the Alps, a likely inspiration for the setting of the story.

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