The Mysteries of Udolpho

Ann Radcliffe’s sprawling romance follows the orphaned Emily St. Aubert, imprisoned by her scheming guardian in a decaying Apennine castle full of apparent supernatural terrors. In her signature style, Radcliffe piles on brooding landscapes and seeming ghosts, then explains every mystery by rational means, teaching a generation how to enjoy fear safely. The most celebrated Gothic novel of its age, it was famous enough for Jane Austen to parody in Northanger Abbey.