The Vanishing Hand was published for private circulation in 1893, when its author, Emma Lea Wilson, was sixty-four years old. It contains the novelette ‘The Vanishing Hand’, the novella ‘A Clever Trick’, and the short story ‘An Authentic Story of a Dog’. The title story is a criminous tale about strange nocturnal goings on at isolated Crighton Manor. Young Alice Taylor thinks she’s seen a ghost when a hand appears at her bedroom door and then fades away before her very eyes, so she enlists the help of ‘Aunt Lucy’ to solve the mystery. ‘A Clever Trick’ is the story of two stepsisters who fall prey to a wicked plan hatched by a devious stepmother. And the third tale is about a stray dog, a true ‘cur of low degree’, who befriends the female narrator of the story in order to avoid being stoned. The tales are clever and entertaining… and they are made all the more interesting by the fact that the contents were in part true. A very limited number of copies of The Vanishing Hand were produced, only a few remain in existence, and it has never been republished. This new edition includes an 18-page biographical essay by Gina R. Collia: “E. Lea Wilson: ‘Eccentric Spinster and First-Rate Storyteller’ ”.
 
Cover image: 19th century illustration after a painting by Gaston Béthune (1856-1897).
 
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