Number Ninety | A Ghost Story by B. M. Croker | A Bitesized Audio Production

John Hollyoak, a vehement sceptic, makes a wager with a group of friends to pass a night in a haunted house — and the worse its reputation, the better. His friends know just the place... "I will not say in what square, street, or road number ninety may be found, nor will I divulge to any human being its precise and exact locality, but this I’m prepared to state, that it is positively in existence, is in London, and is still empty."

A new, original recording of a classic public domain text, read and performed by Simon Stanhope for Bitesized Audio.

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Bithia Mary (or May) Croker (c.1848–1920), usually credited as B. M. Croker, is best remembered for her many novels and stories set in British India, as well as for bring a noted writer of ghost stories. She was born Bithia Mary Sheppard in Kilgefin, County Roscommon, Ireland, the daughter of clergyman and author the Rev. William Sheppard. She was educated in England and France and in her youth was a noted and skilled horsewoman. She married John Stokes Croker, an army officer, in 1871, and in 1877 moved with him to Madras, and later to Bengal. They lived in India for 14 years, during which time she began writing – apparently initally as something to keep her occupied, especially during the hot weather. Her first novel, Proper Pride, was written secretly and originally shared only with women friends, but she later rewrote it and had it published in England in 1882 under the gender-neutral initials B. M. Croker. Perhaps inevitably for the time, it was assumed to be written by a man, and was hugely successful. She went on to write 42 novels and several collections of short stories, a large number of which were set in India (such as 'The Road to Mandalay') or in Ireland ('Terence'). Her ghost stories were also very popular with contemporary readers; probably her best-known contribution to the genre is 'To Let' (1893), also set in India, which has appeared in a number of anthologies including the Oxford Book of Victorian Ghost Stories. Upon her husband's retirement in 1892, the couple moved to County Wicklow in Ireland, and then later to England, where John Croker died in Kent in 1911. Bithia Croker died in London in October 1920, survived by her only child Eileen.

'Number Ninety' was first published in London, in Chapman's Magazine of Fiction, in December 1895.

Recording © Bitesized Audio 2021.