The Monk

Matthew Lewis’s scandalous Gothic novel follows Ambrosio, a revered Madrid monk whose pride collapses into lust, murder, and a pact with the devil. Lurid, fast, and shocking for its time, it piles on seduction, the Inquisition, and supernatural horror with gleeful excess. Notorious on publication, ‘The Monk’ remains one of the most influential and transgressive of all Gothic novels.