The Mysteries of Udolpho

Ann Radcliffe · 1764–1823 · England

Why it matters

An orphaned heroine is imprisoned in a crumbling Apennine castle of veiled portraits and half-heard screams: terrors that turn out, by the final chapters, to have rational explanations. The Gothic's founding bestseller, and Austen's direct target in Northanger Abbey.

At a glance

Ornate, adjective-heavy description stretched across a very long gothic plot.