7 h 2 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 7 h 2 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the stranger following you through Dublin makes even your own home feel unsafe?
In Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s The Watcher, and Other Weird Stories, fear begins with small signs in familiar places. The title story follows Captain Barton, a practical naval officer living in Dublin. A stranger follows him, and as that presence draws nearer, the comfort of home begins to fall away.
Another tale follows Godfrey Schalken, a gifted young Dutch painter who loves Rose Velderkaust, his teacher Gerard Douw’s niece. Then Vanderhausen, a cold and wealthy stranger, seeks her hand. Around these stories gather tales of old houses, guilt, dreams and warnings, where family histories and Irish country life hold the fear that the past may not stay buried.
What you’ll discover
- A stranger drawing nearer Follow Barton through a Dublin where familiar streets no longer promise safety.
- Love under threat Meet Schalken and Rose as a wealthy suitor casts unease over their hopes.
- Fear in quiet details Discover how ordinary rooms and small signs become the seeds of growing dread.
- The past presses close Enter tales where old houses, family histories and guilt carry a lingering threat.
- A calm, unsettling voice Experience ghostly fiction whose quiet telling lets each troubling detail take hold.
Who will love it
Readers who love ghost stories told by firelight, Irish settings, old houses with locked rooms, and mysteries that stay open.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Danger arrives with good manners
- Barton cannot outrun his fear
- A guardian turns kindness into pressure
- Gold buys a terrifying marriage
- Bargains leave a claim behind
- Marriage brings Fanny behind forbidden doors
- A stranger unsettles Fanny's marriage
- Pride keeps old secrets alive
- Certainty leaves people exposed
Who’s who
- Captain BartonA reserved former naval captain and confirmed skeptic who is pursued across Dublin by a small man in a fur cap.
- Lady MargaretA young heiress sent to live with her uncle at Carrickleigh, who must find out whether his kindness is real.
- Sir Arthur T——nMargaret's courteous guardian, a ruined gambler once suspected of murder, whose silver hair and gentle manner hide his plans.
- Godfrey SchalkenA poor, patient Dutch painter who loves his master's niece and hopes to earn the right to ask for her.
- Gerard DouwA master painter in Leyden who signs a marriage contract for his niece with a rich, unnerving stranger.
- Rose VelderkaustDouw's young niece, loved by Schalken, who is given in marriage to a husband she fears.
- FannyA young woman dominated by her mother, who marries a nobleman and lives with a growing sense of dread.
- Lord GlenfallenA polished nobleman and former sailor who keeps a secret in the back of Cahergillagh castle.
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- Large print hardcover
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The Watcher, and Other Weird Stories
A Dublin captain hears footsteps behind him on an empty road, and a letter signed The Watcher follows.
Challenging2–5 hours to read2 languages
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In short
A man walks home alone through an unfinished street in Dublin. Low walls mark where houses will one day stand.
The Watcher, and Other Weird Stories at a glance
- Reading time
- About 3 h 45 min3 h fast, 4 h 25 min slow
- Length
- 53,400 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Footsteps follow a skeptic through Dublin night
The Watcher is set in Dublin around 1794. Captain Barton, once commander of the frigate Dolphin, is quiet, thrifty and reputed a freethinker. He becomes engaged to Miss Montague, a penniless beauty, and the town is surprised.
One night Barton mocks talk of the supernatural. On his way home he hears footsteps behind him on the unfinished road. A letter signed The Watcher follows. A week later the footsteps return beside the College wall, and a second letter tells him he may as well try to escape his own shadow. Barton tells no one, not even his bride, because he fears she will read it as weakness.
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- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- Language
- English
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan. The Watcher, and Other Weird Stories. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-watcher-and-other-weird-stories.
Le Fanu, J. S. (2026). The watcher, and other weird stories. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-watcher-and-other-weird-stories
Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan. The Watcher, and Other Weird Stories. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-watcher-and-other-weird-stories.
@book{lefanu2026watcher,
author = {Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan},
title = {The Watcher, and Other Weird Stories},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-watcher-and-other-weird-stories}
}
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What is The Watcher and Other Weird Stories about?
It is a collection of six Irish gothic tales by Le Fanu. Each follows a person haunted by a ghost, a curse, a bargain or a hidden crime. They are told as manuscripts left by a country priest, the Reverend Francis Purcell.
Who is The Watcher in the first story?
The Watcher is the name signed to anonymous letters sent to Captain Barton in Dublin. It also names the unseen presence that follows him with footsteps and, later, appears as a small man in a fur cap.
Is The Watcher based on a true story?
The preface claims the tales come from family traditions that Father Purcell collected, and the narrators insist that their accounts are factual. Le Fanu wrote the book as fiction, and he died in 1873.
The author
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
1814–1873 · Irish Gothic novelist
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu was an Irish writer born in Dublin in 1814. He lived in Ireland and died in Dublin in 1873. He wrote Gothic tales, mystery novels, and ghost stories. His novels include Uncle Silas, published in 1864, and The Wyvern Mystery, published in 1869.
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