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A review by bev_reads_mysteries
Uncle Silas by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
3.0
When Maud Ruthyn's loving but remote father dies, she is placed in the "care" of her Uncle Silas. True to form, she has inherited quite a bit of property and money and if she dies before reaching her majority guess who gets to scoop the pot? Good ol' Uncle Silas. She's been put under the thumb of an intimidating and kindof nutty French governess and we learn that Silas has been involved in a previous mysterious death. He is a small menacing presence rather than a large, overbearing villain. The whole household under Silas, including his ghastly son, are on the weird and threatening side and Maud feels danger from nearly every direction. Fortunately, she makes a few steadfast friends among her father's household servants and a cousin Lady Knollys (Monica) who see her through the worst of her trials. She undergoes frights and threats and there is a final midnight attempt on her life which lends itself to explaining the earlier death.
Of course, Maud Ruthyn tells her story of Gothic horror from a place of safety, years later after she is married to the charming Lord Ilbury. Having her tell the story in the first person takes quite a bit of the suspense away. I mean, if Maud can tell us this story we know she survives her ordeal, right? I'm afraid that the suspense just didn't hold me as well as it might have done if this had been told from a different perspective and there had been any possibility of doubt about the outcome. Le Fanu did his best to give the reader proper Gothic shivers and (when one could forget who was telling the story) was fairly successful. An interesting Victorian thriller with an air of mystery and suspense, though for preference, I would take his shorter ghost stories over this longer novel.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.
Of course, Maud Ruthyn tells her story of Gothic horror from a place of safety, years later after she is married to the charming Lord Ilbury. Having her tell the story in the first person takes quite a bit of the suspense away. I mean, if Maud can tell us this story we know she survives her ordeal, right? I'm afraid that the suspense just didn't hold me as well as it might have done if this had been told from a different perspective and there had been any possibility of doubt about the outcome. Le Fanu did his best to give the reader proper Gothic shivers and (when one could forget who was telling the story) was fairly successful. An interesting Victorian thriller with an air of mystery and suspense, though for preference, I would take his shorter ghost stories over this longer novel.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.