From the first moment Vincentio di Vivaldi, a young nobleman, sets eyes on the veiled figure of Ellena, he is captivated by her enigmatic beauty and grace. But his haughty and manipulative mother is against the match and enlists the help of her confessor to come between them. Schedoni, previously a leading figure of the Inquisition, is a demonic, scheming monk with no qualms about the task, whether it entails abduction, torture - or even murder. The Italian secured Ann Radcliffe's position as the leading writer of Gothic romance of the age, for its atmosphere of supernatural and nightmarish horrors, combined with her evocation of sublime landscapes and chilling narrative. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

The Italian (Penguin Classics)

Arts & Photography

Radcliffe, Ann

History & Criticism

Penguin Classics

With The Mysteries of Udolpho, Ann Radcliffe raised the Gothic romance to a new level and inspired a long line of imitators. Portraying her heroine's inner life, creating a thick atmosphere of fear, and providing a gripping plot that continues to thrill readers today, The Mysteries of Udolpho is the story of orphan Emily St. Aubert, who finds herself separated from the man she loves and confined within the medieval castle of her aunt's new husband, Montoni. Inside the castle, she must cope with an unwanted suitor, Montoni's threats, and the wild imaginings and terrors that threaten to overwhelm her. This new edition includes an introduction that discusses the publication and early reception of the novel, the genre of Gothic romance, and Radcliffe's use of history, exotic settings, the supernatural, and poetry. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

The Mysteries of Udolpho (Penguin Classics)

Literature & Fiction

Literary

'Emily's face was stained with blood...' Beautiful young heiress Emily St. Aubert is frightened when she finds herself orphaned and in the hands of her cold and distant aunt, Madame Cheron. But her fear turns to terror when Madame Cheron agrees to marry the haughty and brooding Signor Montoni, and she finds herself trapped in the castle Udolpho, threatened by Montoni's terrible greed and haunted by the secrets of the medieval fortress. Will Emily find the strength to survive this place of nightmares? Or will Montoni and his wicked schemes destroy her completely?

Penguin Pocket Classics the Mysteries of Udolpho

Genre Fiction

Penguin Classic

A desolate castle hides a family's shameful secrets ... On the rocky northern shores of Sicily stands a lonely castle, the home of the aristocratic Mazzini family. The marquis of Mazzini has remarried and gone away to live with his new wife, abandoning his two daughters - sweet-natured Emilia and lively, imaginative Julia - to wander the labyrinthine corridors alone. His only involvement with their lives is to arrange a marriage between Julia and the cruel Duke de Luovo, even though she loves another. But that is not the end of Julia's troubles. Strange lights and unearthly groaning noises are coming from parts of the castle that have been locked up for years. Is it occupied by some terrible supernatural power? Or do even darker secrets lie within its depths?

Penguin Pocket Classics a Sicillian Romance (Penguin Classic Romance Thillers)

Classics

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 Mysteries of Udolpho

Oxford University Press

Set in 1758, The Italian is the last book Radcliffe published during her lifetime. With a dark, mysterious and somber atmosphere, it concerns the themes of love, devotion and persecution by the Holy Inquisition.

The Italian: Or the Confessional of the Black Penitents

Ann Radcliffe's narrative catapults the reader into a bygone age of fragile sensibilities and fiercely preserved honour. The story begins within the luxuriant woods and vine of Gascony and moves on into the rugged splendour of the Apennines.

The Mysteries of Udolpho (The ^AWorld's Classics)

This is Ann Radcliffe's most complete success in fiction, and a fine example of Gothic romance. In it, primarily through the character of its extraordinary hero, Schedoni, the book becomes more than just a thriller. The elements of tragedy are there and sustained so as to take it beyond the artifices of the Gothic.

The Italian (The ^AWorld's Classics)

British & Irish

This novel, although not as well-known as Radcliffe's later works, is thought to represent her work at its best. More than just a work of suspense and mystery, it is a work of ideas--a discussion of the contrasts between hedonistic doctrines and a system of education and values.

The Romance of the Forest

Religion & Spirituality

In A Sicilian Romance (1790) 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. This early novel explores the cavernous landscapes and labyrinthine passages of Sicily's castles and convents to reveal the shameful secrets of its all-powerful aristocracy.

A Sicilian Romance (The ^AWorld's Classics)

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