The Aspern Papers & the Turn of the Screw James, Henry and Curtis, Anthony

Two of Henry James's most chilling novellas, bound together. In *The Aspern Papers*, a literary critic will do anything — lie, seduce, betray — to get his hands on the love letters of a dead Romantic poet, hidden away by the poet's ancient mistress in a decaying Venetian palazzo. It's a slow-burn study in obsession and moral rot. Then comes *The Turn of the Screw*, James's masterpiece of ambiguity: a governess at a remote English estate becomes convinced that her young charges are being corrupted by malevolent spirits. Or is she the one losing her mind? James never tells you. The uncertainty is the horror. Both stories are about people who see what they want to see, and the damage that follows. Perfect for readers who like their dread psychological and their endings unresolved.