What do you think?
Rate this book
The Castle of Otranto and The Mysterious Mother
This Broadview edition pairs the first Gothic novel with the first Gothic drama, both by Horace Walpole.
Published on Christmas Eve, 1764, on Walpole’s private press at Strawberry Hill, his Gothicized country house, The Castle of Otranto became an instant and immediate classic of the Gothic genre as well as the prototype for Gothic fiction for the next two hundred years. Walpole’s brooding and intense drama, The Mysterious Mother, focuses on the protagonist’s angst over an act of incest with his mother, and includes the appearance of Father Benedict, Gothic literature’s first evil monk.
Appendices in this edition include selections from Walpole’s letters, contemporary responses, and writings illustrating the aesthetic and intellectual climate of the period. Also included is Sir Walter Scott’s introduction to the 1811 edition of The Castle of Otranto.
Published on Christmas Eve, 1764, on Walpole’s private press at Strawberry Hill, his Gothicized country house, The Castle of Otranto became an instant and immediate classic of the Gothic genre as well as the prototype for Gothic fiction for the next two hundred years. Walpole’s brooding and intense drama, The Mysterious Mother, focuses on the protagonist’s angst over an act of incest with his mother, and includes the appearance of Father Benedict, Gothic literature’s first evil monk.
Appendices in this edition include selections from Walpole’s letters, contemporary responses, and writings illustrating the aesthetic and intellectual climate of the period. Also included is Sir Walter Scott’s introduction to the 1811 edition of The Castle of Otranto.
357 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1764
3 people are currently reading
269 people want to read
About the author
Horace Walpole
1,489 books286 followersHoratio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford — also known as Horace Walpole — was an English art historian, man of letters, antiquarian and Whig politician. He is now largely remembered for Strawberry Hill, the home he built in Twickenham, south-west London where he revived the Gothic style some decades before his Victorian successors, and for his Gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto. Along with the book, his literary reputation rests on his Letters, which are of significant social and political interest. He was the son of Sir Robert Walpole, and cousin of Lord Nelson.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
August 12, 2019
Meh. This was just...bad. Cardboard characters, murky action, flat voice, stilted style. Walpole himself was probably a cool dude to hang out with, going by his responses to detractors** & tastes in interior decorating,** but his prose...nope.
Make no mistake, this wouldn't have earned 2 stars except for the seeds it sprinkled in other minds. Without this horrible little novella, we wouldn't have authors like Ann Radcliffe, Matthew Lewis, Charlotte Dacre...or EA Poe, HP Lovecraft, Bram Stoker...or Stephen King, JC Oates, Shirley Jackson. We wouldn't even have VC Andrews. :P So regardless of how terrible this book is, I have to give those stars for providing so much direct (or indirect) inspiration to later, superior writers. In Walpole's own words, courtesy of the Broadview appendix: In the evening I sat down and began to write, without knowing in the least what I intended to say or relate.
...Yup. Sorry to burst your bubble, Horace. But it shows.
If you've never read an Early Gothic before, I can't urge strongly enough to NOT start with this one. At this point in its existence, Otranto is best reserved for college classes, or those who've read enough of the genre to recognize how inferior it is compared to what followed.
**Essentially, he believed the era had lost its capacity for Fun(tm) by adhering so strictly to science & explainable normalcy. Translated: why should Shakespeare be the only one allowed to play with ghosts & curses? :P
**The guy entirely rebuilt his country manor, inside & out, to become a gothic villa: chapel, keep, towers, gallery, the works.
NB: I didn't read The Mysterious Mother; my rating is only for Otranto.
Make no mistake, this wouldn't have earned 2 stars except for the seeds it sprinkled in other minds. Without this horrible little novella, we wouldn't have authors like Ann Radcliffe, Matthew Lewis, Charlotte Dacre...or EA Poe, HP Lovecraft, Bram Stoker...or Stephen King, JC Oates, Shirley Jackson. We wouldn't even have VC Andrews. :P So regardless of how terrible this book is, I have to give those stars for providing so much direct (or indirect) inspiration to later, superior writers. In Walpole's own words, courtesy of the Broadview appendix: In the evening I sat down and began to write, without knowing in the least what I intended to say or relate.
...Yup. Sorry to burst your bubble, Horace. But it shows.
If you've never read an Early Gothic before, I can't urge strongly enough to NOT start with this one. At this point in its existence, Otranto is best reserved for college classes, or those who've read enough of the genre to recognize how inferior it is compared to what followed.
**Essentially, he believed the era had lost its capacity for Fun(tm) by adhering so strictly to science & explainable normalcy. Translated: why should Shakespeare be the only one allowed to play with ghosts & curses? :P
**The guy entirely rebuilt his country manor, inside & out, to become a gothic villa: chapel, keep, towers, gallery, the works.
NB: I didn't read The Mysterious Mother; my rating is only for Otranto.
Read
February 6, 2025Haven’t read Mysterious Mother yet, therefore I’ve categorized this with no rating, but I read Castle of Otranto for my eighteenth century university class so I will speak very briefly on that.
I enjoyed the plot of the book. The character of Manfred being a self indulgent prince only concerned with carving a lineage fascinated me, and his constant struggle to use hierarchy as a weapon to justify his goals was both disturbing and riveting. However, I was not a fan of the structure of the writing and I found it pretty unbearable actually. I understand that the choice to have almost no white space was probably intentional and people will probably find it ridiculous that I’m commenting about conventional literature norms in relation to an old text, but this book’s appearance is deceiving. This thing is dense. As an English student who is open to reading anything at least once, I can confidently say that this story’s outdated norms were too much for me to handle (I don’t understand why Broadview couldn’t just publish this and structure it like any other play, instead the character’s name and who is speaking is interweaved in these massive, tiring paragraphs and I think I got close to ripping the pages out near the finish line).
I think I found what turns me off, but that’s okay, because at least I finished the story.
Plot is exciting, structure is super ugly. 3/5
I enjoyed the plot of the book. The character of Manfred being a self indulgent prince only concerned with carving a lineage fascinated me, and his constant struggle to use hierarchy as a weapon to justify his goals was both disturbing and riveting. However, I was not a fan of the structure of the writing and I found it pretty unbearable actually. I understand that the choice to have almost no white space was probably intentional and people will probably find it ridiculous that I’m commenting about conventional literature norms in relation to an old text, but this book’s appearance is deceiving. This thing is dense. As an English student who is open to reading anything at least once, I can confidently say that this story’s outdated norms were too much for me to handle (I don’t understand why Broadview couldn’t just publish this and structure it like any other play, instead the character’s name and who is speaking is interweaved in these massive, tiring paragraphs and I think I got close to ripping the pages out near the finish line).
I think I found what turns me off, but that’s okay, because at least I finished the story.
Plot is exciting, structure is super ugly. 3/5
Read
June 21, 2025Read ‘Castle’ for class, very neat, not great, have yet to read ‘Mother,’ thus, no rating
September 30, 2025
this was so. dramatic.
Read my full review here!!
(I will be mainly focusing this review on "the castle of otranto" and not "the mysterious mother" because frankly, I skimmed "the mysterious mother" LOL. I'll still offer my thoughts on it but it won't be as detailed oops.)
i guess this is the 18th century equivalent to a soap opera because random dramatic things just kept happening on every single page and it was honestly kind of funny. literally in the first chapter alone, someone gets killed by a GIANT HELMET falling on top of them, and a princess is running away because the dad of the guy who was killed by the helmet suddenly declares he wants to marry his son's daughter (damn, that was a confusing sentence. sorry). not only that, a portrait starts walking on its own, a talking skeleton appears, a father reunites with his long-lost son, giant armored limbs start appearing out of nowhere, and other random things happen. people fall in love right after seeing each other for the first time like it's a typical tuesday for these folks. there is so much plot, but the characters are so dull and one-dimensional that it all ultimately just collapses on itself.
i read this for class, and my professor told us that this book was going to seem like this at first. because "the castle of otranto" was the very first gothic novel ever written, we have these elements like prophecies, the walking dead, moving portraits, and other odd things all piled up on one another, and it seems like horace walpole was just going through a checklist on how to make the perfect gothic novel. in reality, walpole was the trendsetter. each of these tropes seem outdated and overused because everyone else was just copying walpole, so now, to us, we think these typical gothic elements are boring and overdone. walpole was the it girl!!!
but still, i didn't really like this book.
I will say, there are a few parts where walpole got me. i gasped a few times, my jaw fell a few times, not because it was a crazy plot twist, but because it was just so dramatic and y'all know i live for the drama!!!!! if you're a huge fan of gothic literature, I'd definitely recommend you read this, just so you have a sense of where the gothic genre came from, but honestly, I'm sure you could read better gothic lit. you can skip this because there are definitely better gothic books out there, but i still admire walpole for literally starting an entire genre of literature. cool guy!!!!
for "the mysterious mother," it was crazy! i thought that it was perfectly suspenseful, and i liked how he saved the big reveal for the end. it was good. in the postscript, walpole says he waited till the end to reveal the huge crime because he wanted the reader to feel at least a little bit of pity for the mother, and I'm glad he did. a very thoughtful decision. that's pretty much all my thoughts. it was a fine play. meh. ok bye!!!!!
Read my full review here!!
(I will be mainly focusing this review on "the castle of otranto" and not "the mysterious mother" because frankly, I skimmed "the mysterious mother" LOL. I'll still offer my thoughts on it but it won't be as detailed oops.)
i guess this is the 18th century equivalent to a soap opera because random dramatic things just kept happening on every single page and it was honestly kind of funny. literally in the first chapter alone, someone gets killed by a GIANT HELMET falling on top of them, and a princess is running away because the dad of the guy who was killed by the helmet suddenly declares he wants to marry his son's daughter (damn, that was a confusing sentence. sorry). not only that, a portrait starts walking on its own, a talking skeleton appears, a father reunites with his long-lost son, giant armored limbs start appearing out of nowhere, and other random things happen. people fall in love right after seeing each other for the first time like it's a typical tuesday for these folks. there is so much plot, but the characters are so dull and one-dimensional that it all ultimately just collapses on itself.
i read this for class, and my professor told us that this book was going to seem like this at first. because "the castle of otranto" was the very first gothic novel ever written, we have these elements like prophecies, the walking dead, moving portraits, and other odd things all piled up on one another, and it seems like horace walpole was just going through a checklist on how to make the perfect gothic novel. in reality, walpole was the trendsetter. each of these tropes seem outdated and overused because everyone else was just copying walpole, so now, to us, we think these typical gothic elements are boring and overdone. walpole was the it girl!!!
but still, i didn't really like this book.
I will say, there are a few parts where walpole got me. i gasped a few times, my jaw fell a few times, not because it was a crazy plot twist, but because it was just so dramatic and y'all know i live for the drama!!!!! if you're a huge fan of gothic literature, I'd definitely recommend you read this, just so you have a sense of where the gothic genre came from, but honestly, I'm sure you could read better gothic lit. you can skip this because there are definitely better gothic books out there, but i still admire walpole for literally starting an entire genre of literature. cool guy!!!!
for "the mysterious mother," it was crazy! i thought that it was perfectly suspenseful, and i liked how he saved the big reveal for the end. it was good. in the postscript, walpole says he waited till the end to reveal the huge crime because he wanted the reader to feel at least a little bit of pity for the mother, and I'm glad he did. a very thoughtful decision. that's pretty much all my thoughts. it was a fine play. meh. ok bye!!!!!
September 6, 2023
*DNF
For my Gothic Novel class, we were assigned to read The Castle of Otranto. After reading this book, I felt elements of the tragedy as Theodore, the rightful heir, was kidnapped and forced to live his life as a peasant. After Conrad's death, Theodore becomes a prominent figure in the story as Manfred becomes suspicious of him, even as he lurks throughout the castle searching for Isabella and forcing the church to grant him a divorce from Hippolita.
It is the character Manfred that is the most outrageous. Throughout this book, Manfred forces people to bend to his will through deals or lying. Even as this book primarily focuses on the villain, it is always a fascinating choice to stick with the villain rather than the hero. Even though Manfred is almost a caricature of villainy, the way he attempts to manipulate and bulldoze people is so captivating.
For my Gothic Novel class, we were assigned to read The Castle of Otranto. After reading this book, I felt elements of the tragedy as Theodore, the rightful heir, was kidnapped and forced to live his life as a peasant. After Conrad's death, Theodore becomes a prominent figure in the story as Manfred becomes suspicious of him, even as he lurks throughout the castle searching for Isabella and forcing the church to grant him a divorce from Hippolita.
It is the character Manfred that is the most outrageous. Throughout this book, Manfred forces people to bend to his will through deals or lying. Even as this book primarily focuses on the villain, it is always a fascinating choice to stick with the villain rather than the hero. Even though Manfred is almost a caricature of villainy, the way he attempts to manipulate and bulldoze people is so captivating.
September 18, 2020
Walpole really didn't do much for me in terms or plot or writing style and there wasn't a single character I liked in this novel (novella?). There are, however, quite a few things of literary value in this book: one, it is one of the earliest examples of the Gothic genre and I can certainly appreciate the Gothic conventions that Walpole explores, and two, the novel provides an incredibly subtle yet astute commentary on the commodification of women and the extent to which they themselves are alienated from their sense of human agency. Hippolita, though unlikeable in my opinion, is an astoundingly interesting character who is so far gone in the misogynistic dynamics of her marriage that she often willingly submits herself to being commodified under the patriarchal, tyrannical rule of her husband.
I had to read this book for my Austen class as a work of comparison to Northanger Abbey, and I'm excited to see how this comparative reading plays out; perhaps the former will have added value to me once I read the latter.
January 1, 2018
The Broadview edition brings together both of Walpole's formative works of gothic literature from the late 18th century. Both are fairly quick reads. For the modern reader, Walpole's stories may seem a bit trite as his imagery, plots and characters have frequently appeared throughout gothic genre in the years since Walpole's works were originally published. However, as the origins of gothic literature, both are interesting for anyone interested in the gothic movement.
April 26, 2023
if you held me at gunpoint and told me to reread this i would just ask you to shoot me
September 18, 2024
*for the Mysterious Mother
February 29, 2024
The Castle of Otranto was good save the lack of quotation marks but the Mysterious Mother was confusing and bland.
September 17, 2019
I only read The Castle of Otranto for my class but what a wild ride!
This immediately reminded me of Shelley's Zastrozzi, but because Otranto is the older text, it's likely that Shelley was inspired by Walpole. Otranto was published in 1764 so it's totally possible that it also inspired Zastrozzi, which Shelley wrote in 1810. I wouldn't be surprised if Byron's poem Manfred was also related to this story, despite not having read Manfred. I just saw that the title also happened be the same as the name of Walpole's villain.
This is pretty out there. If you like over the top, dramatic, and things flying out of nowhere, then you will like The Castle of Otranto. It's one of the first real Gothic horrors; even if it's less famous than Frankenstein or Dracula, it helped establish the genre and inspire many talented writers who came after it (I personally think Shelley and Byron are among them).
Manfred, an evil prince, is trying to get his sickly son Conrad to marry Isabella, a maiden whose missing father holds the rightful title to the kingdom. But before Conrad can marry Isabella, a massive helmet falls from the sky, killing Conrad. Manfred then plots to marry Isabella himself despite the fact that he is already married to Hippolita, who is Conrad and Matilda's mother. Isabella briefly escapes Manfred by hiding in his castle's vast dungeon. Manfred works then to persuade Hippolita to divorce him (he doesn't really need to persuade her since she basically does whatever he says- which is problematic to say the least) while he has his servants looking for Isabella. Manfred and his servants are haunted by a cast of ghosts throughout the novel whom spell out a prophecy of doom for the evil Manfred.
If you like Shakespeare plays, this book is in a similar style but in the novella form. Shakespeare has a lot of "mistaken identity" incidences for both comedic and tragic purposes. Walpole uses these both where Matilda is mistaken twice for Isabella by different characters in the novella.
The only thing that threw me when reading this is that this story takes place in the middle ages (Manfred and some of the other male characters are knights as well as princes or nobility). I kept picturing them in the 1700s rather than in the middle ages for the first chapter at least. They don't talk about chivalry or really get into medieval courtly life and rankings until much later in the story.
For such an old story, I think it did a decent job of vilifying Manfred's obsession with begetting heirs (to the point where he nearly harms Isabella). Walpole makes the girls' fears of having to marry men they don't want to extremely easy to sympathize with, which I wasn't expecting given the time period he was writing from.
I gave this novella four stars! It's a bit all over the place and the dialogue might be hard to follow if you don't pay attention (there's no quotations to separate character's speech from the narration). But if you like Shakespeare and you like Gothic Horror, and you can tolerate (or even enjoy) ridiculous theatrics, you will probably enjoy Walpole's The Castle of Otranto.
This immediately reminded me of Shelley's Zastrozzi, but because Otranto is the older text, it's likely that Shelley was inspired by Walpole. Otranto was published in 1764 so it's totally possible that it also inspired Zastrozzi, which Shelley wrote in 1810. I wouldn't be surprised if Byron's poem Manfred was also related to this story, despite not having read Manfred. I just saw that the title also happened be the same as the name of Walpole's villain.
This is pretty out there. If you like over the top, dramatic, and things flying out of nowhere, then you will like The Castle of Otranto. It's one of the first real Gothic horrors; even if it's less famous than Frankenstein or Dracula, it helped establish the genre and inspire many talented writers who came after it (I personally think Shelley and Byron are among them).
Manfred, an evil prince, is trying to get his sickly son Conrad to marry Isabella, a maiden whose missing father holds the rightful title to the kingdom. But before Conrad can marry Isabella, a massive helmet falls from the sky, killing Conrad. Manfred then plots to marry Isabella himself despite the fact that he is already married to Hippolita, who is Conrad and Matilda's mother. Isabella briefly escapes Manfred by hiding in his castle's vast dungeon. Manfred works then to persuade Hippolita to divorce him (he doesn't really need to persuade her since she basically does whatever he says- which is problematic to say the least) while he has his servants looking for Isabella. Manfred and his servants are haunted by a cast of ghosts throughout the novel whom spell out a prophecy of doom for the evil Manfred.
If you like Shakespeare plays, this book is in a similar style but in the novella form. Shakespeare has a lot of "mistaken identity" incidences for both comedic and tragic purposes. Walpole uses these both where Matilda is mistaken twice for Isabella by different characters in the novella.
The only thing that threw me when reading this is that this story takes place in the middle ages (Manfred and some of the other male characters are knights as well as princes or nobility). I kept picturing them in the 1700s rather than in the middle ages for the first chapter at least. They don't talk about chivalry or really get into medieval courtly life and rankings until much later in the story.
For such an old story, I think it did a decent job of vilifying Manfred's obsession with begetting heirs (to the point where he nearly harms Isabella). Walpole makes the girls' fears of having to marry men they don't want to extremely easy to sympathize with, which I wasn't expecting given the time period he was writing from.
I gave this novella four stars! It's a bit all over the place and the dialogue might be hard to follow if you don't pay attention (there's no quotations to separate character's speech from the narration). But if you like Shakespeare and you like Gothic Horror, and you can tolerate (or even enjoy) ridiculous theatrics, you will probably enjoy Walpole's The Castle of Otranto.
January 19, 2021
2.5 stars but threw in the extra half star for the fact that The Castle of Otranto is the first of its kind. The Castle of Otranto set in motion the Gothic literary tradition of the unknown, uncanny, and unexplainable.
I don't know if it's the centuries that separate me and this novel, but I just found it hard to read. I don't understand the ending and I didn't get closure on the giant disembodied hand or foot. Where did they come from? Why did they show up? What happened to the giant helmet that smashes Conrad? There are just too many unanswered questions.
I don't know if it's the centuries that separate me and this novel, but I just found it hard to read. I don't understand the ending and I didn't get closure on the giant disembodied hand or foot. Where did they come from? Why did they show up? What happened to the giant helmet that smashes Conrad? There are just too many unanswered questions.
February 11, 2022
Just read Mysterious Mother and it was not very good. It’s just off-brand Shakespeare without any emotion or characters that I care about at all. I guess the ending was cool (albeit I laughed quite a bit at it).
2.5/5 wouldn’t recommend bothering to read it but maybe the castle of otranto is better
2.5/5 wouldn’t recommend bothering to read it but maybe the castle of otranto is better
September 18, 2024
read both the castle of otranto and the mysterious mother for a gothic lit class and i enjoyed both of them!! definitely enjoyed otranto a bit more but i think that has to do theo my new fav yearner lesbian :/
April 20, 2023
I had to audiobook this just to get through it for a class. I didn’t really enjoy it and I’m not sure why.
September 22, 2024
Like 2.5 cripes. It was crazy, i much preferred castle to mother, mother was just hard to understand. And the 1 page paper i had to write on this absolutely kicked my ass so here we are.
January 13, 2025
Not bad! This book took me for a wild ride but I actually really
Liked it. Recommend getting a version with notes!
Liked it. Recommend getting a version with notes!
September 3, 2025
I didn’t read the mysterious mother I’m really sorry I just genuinely could not. I might be a faker for marking this as finished but I did read all of Otranto so it counts.
November 27, 2025
He’s a hack. Innovative, but a hack.
February 19, 2024
“daddy gothic literature”
April 1, 2017
It was lovely to revisit Otranto after I had so much more familiarity with the Gothic! The Mysterious Mother was a fascinating play -- much more traditional than I had expected, really. Glad I read this, though I wasn't entirely impressed by Frank's scholarly apparatus.
November 1, 2012
What fun! This is an excellent edition, would that all editions for scholars were so well put together. Franks edifys without stultifying. Oh crap now I have to read something more mundane so my language returns to normal. Enjoy!!
August 24, 2016
Review is only for "The Mysterious Mother" - 4 stars for a brief, but chilling play that is never slow-paced and has a fantastic ending.
July 19, 2016
A fast read, my copy was only 92 pages. Great Gothic devices. Enjoyed the imagery.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews