The Mysteries of Udolpho

"The first poetess of romantic fiction."-Sir Walter Scott ""Mrs. Radcliffe is a mistress of hints, suggestions, minute details, breathless pauses, and the hush of suspense." -The New York Times "Compared to Udolpho, Montoni's mountain hideaway, Castle Dracula is a country day school." -Barbara Walker Ann Radcliff's Mysteries of Udolpho, one of the most famous English gothic novels ever published, was a significant influence on later authors including Mary Shelley, Edgar Allen Poe, and Jane Austen. In combining the supernatural elements of the gothic genre with a deep sensitivity of emotion, this work reveals the height of Radcliffe's powers as a writer. Living a picturesque life in rural Late-16th Century France, Emily St. Aubert, the novel's beautiful and sensitive protagonist becomes an orphan when both of her parents die. Adopted by her unaffectionate aunt Madame Cheron, Emily is ultimately imprisoned by Cheron and her cruel husband, the