King Henry III is holding court at Kenilworth. Festivities abound, wine flows copiously, and spirits are high as the King and his subjects prepare to celebrate the nuptials of Sir Gaston de Blondeville. But the joyous mood is interrupted when a merchant, Hugh Woodreeve, comes distraught before the King to demand justice. His kinsman, he claims, was murdered, by the very man the King has come to honour -- Gaston de Blondeville Suspecting a conspiracy against Gaston, yet obliged to hold a trial to determine the truth of the allegations, Henry imprisons Woodreeve in a tower while awaiting a hearing. Meanwhile, sinister forces are at work, represented by an evil abbot, who will stop at nothing to ensure the truth behind Woodreeve's claims is never revealed. As the trial unfolds and the danger mounts for both Woodreeve and Gaston, a mysterious figure will come from beyond the grave to elucidate the horrible mystery The only one of Radcliffe's novels to feature a real ghost, Gaston de Blondeville was published posthumously in 1826. This edition, the first-ever scholarly edition of the novel, features a new introduction by Frances Chiu, uncoding the novel's long-hidden political, historical, and religious contexts. A wealth of supplementary materials, including excerpts from other primary texts and the complete text of contemporary reviews, is also provided to enhance modern readers' understanding of the novel's themes.

Es la cuarta y m s famosa novela de la autora. Los misterios de Udolfo cuenta las aventuras de Emily St. Aubert quien sufre, entre otras calamidades, la muerte de su padre, terrores sobrenaturales en un sombr o castillo, y las maquinaciones de un bandolero italiano. A menudo se la cita como el modelo arquet pico de la novela g tica.

The Mysteries of Udolpho By Ann Ward Radcliffe

Beautiful young Emily D'Orville lives a peaceful existence in the French countryside with her loving parents. But when tragedy strikes and leaves her an orphan, Emily is separated from her true love Angereau and imprisoned in the Castle of Gorgono, her sinister uncle's fortress in the Apennine Mountains. Can Emily escape the horrors of Gorgono, or will she fall victim to Signor Androssi and his murderous friends? And what is the mystery of the horrifying picture that hangs in a locked chamber, shrouded in a black veil?

First published in 1802, The Veiled Picture is a chapbook redaction of Ann Radcliffe's Gothic masterpiece The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794). The Veiled Picture faithfully preserves every major character and plot element from Udolpho while eliminating many of its details and descriptions, making it the ideal introduction to the study of Radcliffe's work.

This Valancourt Books edition includes a new introduction and notes by Jack G. Voller, as well as a wealth of appendices, including the complete text of contemporary reviews of Udolpho, contemporary reactions, mini essays on Gothic architecture and the sublime, and a comparison of key passages in The Veiled Picture and The Mysteries of Udolpho.

The novel is a set in a powerful landscape which became familiar in her later work, with complex clan feuds and mysterious romantic intrigues played out against a backdrop of ruined medieval castles and rugged Scottish coastlines. Each of the characters can be defined by their passions: The present Earl of Athlin, Osbert, is driven by a passionate desire to avenge his father's murder at the hand of Malcolm, the Baron of Dunbayne. His sister, Mary, is ever swooning and fainting in an attempt to resist her passion for Alleyn, a highlander not of noble birth. Alleyn is likwise driven to heroic deeds of rescue because of his love for Mary. Even the villain, Baron Malcolm, is driven by his desire-first a desire to kill Osbert; it is later supplanted by his desire to possess Mary. Although the passions of its leading characters dominate the plot, the castles of the title are as central to the narrative, establishing an enduring Gothic trope.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.

This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.

Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

This collection of posthumous works by 18th-century novelist Ann Radcliffe includes her final novel, the Gothic romance 'Gaston de Blondeville', as well as other works such as the metrical tale 'St. Alban's Abbey'. The book is prefaced by a memoir of the author and extracts from her private journals.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.

This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.

Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

In these two classic gothic novels, the reader is transported to a world of dark castles, secret passages, and uncanny occurrences. With vivid prose and spine-tingling suspense, these novels are essential reading for fans of the gothic genre.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.

This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.

Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

The Romance of the Forest, interspersed with some pieces of poetry, a classical and rare book that has been considered essential throughout human history, so that this work is never forgotten, we at Alpha Editions have made efforts in its preservation by republishing this book in a modern format for present and future generations. This whole book has been reformatted, retyped and designed. These books are not made of scanned copies of their original work and hence the text is clear and readable.

One of Radcliffe's most well-known stories, The Mysteries of Udolpho is considered by many to be a classic and is a great read for anyone.

Ann Radcliffe (1764 - 1823) was an English author and a pioneer of the Gothic novel. Her style is romantic in its vivid descriptions of landscapes and long travel scenes, yet the Gothic element is obvious through her use of the supernatural. It was her technique of explained Gothicism, the final revelation of inexplicable phenomena, that helped the Gothic novel achieve respectability in the 1790s. In this book: The Mysteries of Udolpho, Complete A Sicilian Romance

The Mysteries of Udolpho follows the fortunes of Emily St. Aubert, who, among other misadventures, suffers the death of her father, supernatural terrors in a gloomy castle and the machinations of an Italian brigand. One of the first Gothic Novels, The Mysteries of Udolpho, plays a prominent role in defining the genre for future works of gothic fiction.

A Sicilian Romance

The House of Mazzini

by Ann Radcliffe

A Sicilian Romance is a gothic novel by Ann Radcliffe. It was her second published work, and was first published anonymously in 1790.

The plot concerns the fallen nobility of the house of Mazzini, on the northern shore of Sicily, as related by a tourist who learns of their turbulent history from a monk he meets at the ruins of their once-magnificent castle. The Mazzini sisters, Emilia and Julia are 'beautiful' young ladies with many talents. Julia quickly falls in love with the young and handsome Italian count Hippolitus de Vereza, but to her dismay her father decides that she should marry Duke de Luovo instead. After much thought Julia attempts to elope with Hippolitus on the night before her wedding. However, their escape had been anticipated, and the Marquis, Julia's father, ambushes and seemingly kills Hippolitus whose body is carried away by his servants. The Marquis tells Julia that she must marry the duke and after much difficulty she escapes again alone. The Marquis and the Duke spend much of the novel trying to catch Julia and force her to marry the duke. Julia has to flee from her various hiding places as she narrowly avoids capture and eventually ends up, by a secret tunnel, in the abandoned and seemingly haunted southern apartments of the Mazzini castle only to find that her mother, thought to be dead, had been imprisoned there for years by the Marquis, who had grown to despise her. The Marquis's new wife, Maria de Vellorno, commits murder-suicide after the Marquis discovers and accuses her of infidelity, poisoning the Marquis and stabbing herself. Before he dies the Marquis confesses to Ferdinand, his son, that his mother has been imprisoned, and hands him the keys. However, his mother and Julia had already been freed by Hippolitus, who had recovered from his wounds. Ferdinand then finds them at a lighthouse on the coast, waiting to leave for Italy, and they are all joyfully reunited. The introduction to the Oxford World's Classics edition notes that in this novel Ann Radcliffe began to forge the unique mixture of the psychology of terror and poetic description that would make her the great exemplar of the Gothic novel, and the idol of the Romantics. The novel explores the cavernous landscapes and labyrinthine passages of Sicily's castles and convents to reveal the shameful secrets of its all-powerful aristocracy

On the northern shore of Sicily are still to be seen the magnificent remains of a castle, which formerly belonged to the noble house of Mazzini. It stands in the centre of a small bay, and upon a gentle acclivity, which, on one side, slopes towards the sea, and on the other rises into an eminence crowned by dark woods. The situation is admirably beautiful and picturesque, and the ruins have an air of ancient grandeur, which, contrasted with the present solitude of the scene, impresses the traveller with awe and curiosity. During my travels abroad I visited this spot. As I walked over the loose fragments of stone, which lay scattered through the immense area of the fabrick, and surveyed the sublimity and grandeur of the ruins, I recurred, by a natural association of ideas, to the times when these walls stood proudly in their original splendour, when the halls were the scenes of hospitality and festive magnificence, and when they resounded with the voices of those whom death had long since swept from the earth. 'Thus, ' said I, 'shall the present generation--he who now sinks in misery--and he who now swims in pleasure, alike pass away and be forgotten.' ......

This collection of literature attempts to compile many of the classic works that have stood the test of time and offer them at a reduced, affordable price, in an attractive volume so that everyone can enjoy them.

On the pleasant banks of the Garonne, in the province of Gascony, stood, in the year 1584, the chateau of Monsieur St. Aubert. From its windows were seen the pastoral landscapes of Guienne and Gascony stretching along the river, gay with luxuriant woods and vine, and plantations of olives. To the south, the view was bounded by the majestic Pyrenees, whose summits, veiled in clouds, or exhibiting awful forms, seen, and lost again, as the partial vapours rolled along, were sometimes barren, and gleamed through the blue tinge of air, and sometimes frowned with forests of gloomy pine, that swept downward to their base. These tremendous precipices were contrasted by the soft green of the pastures and woods that hung upon their skirts; among whose flocks, and herds, and simple cottages, the eye, after having scaled the cliffs above, delighted to repose. To the north, and to the east, the plains of Guienne and Languedoc were lost in the mist of distance; on the west, Gascony was bounded by the waters of Biscay.

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The plot concerns the fallen nobility of the house of Mazzini, on the northern shore of Sicily, as related by a tourist who learns of their turbulent history from a monk he meets at the ruins of their once-magnificent castle. The Mazzini sisters, Emilia and Julia are 'beautiful' young ladies with many talents.

Julia quickly falls in love with the young and handsome Italian count Hippolitus de Vereza, but to her dismay her father decides that she should marry Duke de Luovo instead. After much thought Julia attempts to elope with Hippolitus on the night before her wedding. However, their escape had been anticipated, and the Marquis, Julia's father, ambushes and seemingly kills Hippolitus whose body is carried away by his servants.

The Marquis tells Julia that she must marry the duke and after much difficulty she escapes again alone. The Marquis and the Duke spend much of the novel trying to catch Julia and force her to marry the duke. Julia has to flee from her various hiding places as she narrowly avoids capture and eventually ends up, by a secret tunnel, in the abandoned and seemingly haunted southern apartments of the Mazzini castle only to find that her mother, thought to be dead, had been imprisoned there for years by the Marquis, who had grown to despise her.

The Marquis's new wife, Maria de Vellorno, commits murder-suicide after the Marquis discovers and accuses her of infidelity, poisoning the Marquis and stabbing herself. Before he dies the Marquis confesses to Ferdinand, his son, that his mother has been imprisoned, and hands him the keys. However, his mother and Julia had already been freed by Hippolitus, who had recovered from his wounds. Ferdinand then finds them at a lighthouse on the coast, waiting to leave for Italy, and they are all joyfully reunited.

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Characters:

Ferdinand Mazzini - Marquis
Louisa Bernini - Ferdinand's first wife, mother of his three children
Maria de Vellorno - Ferdinand's second wife
Emilia - older daughter
Julia - younger daughter
Ferdinand - son
Madame de Menon - governess of Mazzini girls, childhood friend of Louisa Bernini
Vincent - servant Count Hippolitus de Vereza
Duke de Luovo
Robert - servant
Riccardo - de Luovo's son, leader of banditti
Peter - servant
Caterina - Julia's servant whose parents help hide her
Cornelia - nun at St. Augustin's, Hippolitus's sister

The Mysteries of Udolpho is a quintessential Gothic romance, replete with incidents of physical and psychological terror; remote, crumbling castles; seemingly supernatural events; a brooding, scheming villain; and a persecuted heroine. Modern editors point out that only about one-third of the novel is set in the eponymous Gothic castle, and that the tone and style vary markedly between sections of the work. Radcliffe also added extensive descriptions of exotic landscapes in the Pyrenees and Apennines, and of Venice, none of which she visited and for details of which she relied on contemporary travel books, leading to the introduction of several anachronisms. Set in 1584 in southern France and northern Italy, the novel focuses on the plight of Emily St. Aubert, a young French woman who is orphaned after the death of her father. Emily suffers imprisonment in the castle Udolpho at the hands of Signor Montoni, an Italian brigand who has married her aunt and guardian Madame Cheron. Emily's romance with the dashing Valancourt is frustrated by Montoni and others. Emily also investigates the mysterious relationship between her father and the Marchioness de Villeroi, and its connection to the castle at Udolpho.

When young Emily goes on a long journey with her father to study and appreciate the machinations of nature, they come home to find her father dying. After his death, Emily is almost forced into a marriage by her forced consort Count Morano when her heart has fallen for the young count Valancourt but strange things are happening around the castle she is to inherit.

The attempt of Osbert, the Earl of Dunbayne, to bring justice to the killer of his father fails terribly. During his attack on the castle of Athlin, he's seized and imprisoned by his enemy. Worse, Osbert's sister, the lovely and innocent Mary, becomes a pawn in his enemy's plans.

But all is not lost, as the noble-hearted peasant Alleyn desperately searches for a way to free the earl and save Mary from a fate that would make death preferable.

Anne Radcliffe's first published work, The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne, draws on the influence of Horace Walpole, Clara Reeve, and other writers of the period. There is the rightful heir, who, ignorant of his patrimony, nonetheless shines with virtue despite his base upbringing, and the chaste, highborn maiden who loves him. And of course there is the ancient castle with its secret doors and musty passages.

At 42,000 words, it's the shortest of the Radcliffe works. (In comparison, her longest novel, The Mysteries of Udolpho, weighs in at 285,000 words.) The shorter length doesn't prevent Radcliffe from including multiple battles, several dungeon excursions, and two pairs of star-crossed lovers. Not until the very last pages does she tie off all the loose threads with a revelation and happy ending.

This edition has been copyedited in accordance with current American practice in respect to punctuation. In some places words and phrases have been reordered to improve ease of comprehension.

On the northern shore of Sicily are still to be seen the magnificent remains of a castle, which formerly belonged to the noble house of Mazzini. It stands in the centre of a small bay, and upon a gentle acclivity, which, on one side, slopes towards the sea, and on the other rises into an eminence crowned by dark woods.