“After people die, they understand everything.” - I See A Long Journey, Rachel Ingalls

Discover the unique work of writer Rachel Ingalls, an American writer who lived in England for most of her life, and who is best known for her novella Mrs. Caliban. Ingalls’s writing is mostly out-of-print and she had difficulty in her lifetime getting any traction and readership for her books, perhaps for her unusual approach and themes. Her work is considered weird, odd, hilarious, dark, and unusual, and she deserves more notice for it.

This bundle includes Three of a Kind, collection of three novellas set in isolated places like an Austrian ski resort and a Californian monastery. The Pearl Killers takes readers to Scandinavia at the turn of the century, post-war South America, Egypt, and New England while telling us a story involving murder, suicide, mass lobotomy, and a mummy’s curse. It’s a dark romp.

These books came directly from her own bookshelves and estate and were acquired by The Second Shelf in 2020. Her books in first edition are relatively scarce, we seem to have the most of them, and want to introduce her work to new readers.