msand3 's review for:

Uncle Silas: A Tale of Bartram-Haugh by J. Sheridan Le Fanu

5.0

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More realistic than Walpole, Lewis, and Radcliffe, and with a snappier pace than Maturin and Brown, Le Fanu's Uncle Silas has easily become my favorite Gothic novel. This one has everything: dark, lichen-draped castles; sketchy peasants lurking in misty forest nooks; a plucky young heroine; an old, creepy French governess; a hint of the supernatural in the form of Swedenborgianism; a fairy tale-inspired plot; and a mysterious, ambiguous title character who swirls around the periphery, appearing only in a few chapters, but dominating the narrative. I was hooked immediately, burning through the pages like a teenager just discovering the pleasure of reading for the first time. Uncle Silas has made me want to stop all my reading and devour Gothic fiction this summer, starting with Le Fanu's The House by the Churchyard.