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The Orphan of the Rhine
Seduced and betrayed by a rake, Julie de Rubine lives in seclusion with her infant son, Enrîco. One day, their calm retirement is interrupted by the Marchese de Montferrat, who promises to provide for Julie and her son if she agrees to care for an unfortunate orphan, Laurette, whose origin is shrouded in mystery. Under the assumed name of Madame Chamont, Julie raises the two children, whose youthful friendship eventually blossoms into love. As Laurette matures, she resolves to learn the identity of her real parents. Her only clues are a painted miniature of a beautiful lady and the whisperings of a sinister monk, who warns her to avoid the Marchese de Montferrat. But when Julie is kidnapped by banditti and Laurette is taken to the gloomy castle of the lascivious Marchese, will she be able to uncover the truth and marry her beloved Enrîco, or will she fall victim to the lustful Montferrat? The rarest of the seven "horrid novels," Eleanor Sleath's The Orphan of the Rhine (1798) is indebted to Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) and Regina Maria Roche's The Children of the Abbey (1796) but possesses a charm and fascination all its own. This new edition, the first in 50 years, includes a new introduction by Ellen Moody.
456 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1798
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988 people want to read
About the author
Eleanor Sleath
37 books6 followersEleanor Sleath was an English novelist, best known for her 1798 gothic novel, The Orphan of the Rhine, which was listed as one of the seven "horrid novels" by Jane Austen in her novel Northanger Abbey.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 18, 2017
The actual publication of this book I've read is the Valancourt edition published in 2014.
This Gothic novel is another of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey's horrid mysteries. First, the introduction by Ellen Moody is excellent, second, Eleanor Sleath was a pretty decent author for her time. The novel flow effortlessly to it conclusion, I found myself enjoying all the twist and turns that makes the gothic novel so appealing to me.
Julie de Rubine agrees to the protection of Marchese de Montferrat if she will raise an orphan girl along with her infant son. Then the treachery begins, scary monks, half ruin castles, and scoundrels abound in this novel. One of the better Gothics.
This Gothic novel is another of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey's horrid mysteries. First, the introduction by Ellen Moody is excellent, second, Eleanor Sleath was a pretty decent author for her time. The novel flow effortlessly to it conclusion, I found myself enjoying all the twist and turns that makes the gothic novel so appealing to me.
Julie de Rubine agrees to the protection of Marchese de Montferrat if she will raise an orphan girl along with her infant son. Then the treachery begins, scary monks, half ruin castles, and scoundrels abound in this novel. One of the better Gothics.
December 14, 2024
One of the most purple Gothic romances from the 18th century spends more time on infidelity than ghosts.
Also, note: Do not buy the Hansebooks edition! It's a scam! – look three paragraphs down for proof.
There are seven works of the eighteenth century Gothic craze that attained a peculiar position in history: The Northanger Seven, also known as the Northanger Horrid Novels. The Orphan of the Rhine is one of these novels, all of which became known from their inclusion in Austen's Northanger Abbey; the seven come from a list given to the protagonist under the promise that they would be 'horrid'. Of course, since Austen's book was a parody about a girl more or less living inside an over-the-top Gothic novel, the term horrid was there likely used to refer to some quality with regard to how they were written, rather than to how frightening they were. This has not prevented this reviewer from enjoying some of them. The purple prose of The Orphan of the Rhine, however, is exasperating, to put it mildly.
Since it would be nice to compliment such a claim with a few quotes, some have indeed been included in the review further below. However, a digression is needed before I get there. The next four paragraphs will be a warning against purchasing Hansebooks books, and a recommendation as to which editions are good – those who merely wish to read about the novel itself may skip these.
The reason why is this: The Orphan of the Rhine is the only one among the Northanger Seven which I have been unable to find as having been reprinted by photocopy, where an original eighteenth century edition would have been reprinted not just word by word, but with an exact visual copy of each page. I find that these reprints give the reading experience more of a historical feeling, as if they better preserve the essence of the novel's day and age, closing some of the gap between then and now. But, as I said, alas there was no such edition for this novel. So, I bought a copy from a “publisher” that promised to provide me with an “unchanged, high-quality reprint of the original edition of 1798” (blurb, back of the book), which is neither of those things.
Hansebooks is a scam in the sense that this purchase turned out to be “a fraudulent deal” ('scam', Wiktionary) where 'fraudulent' is defined as “based on fraud or deception” (fraudulent, Wiktionary). No one has edited anything, the text has been copy-pasted poorly, then sent to print. There is no pagination. Some of the chapter headers have been lost. The header for one of the four volumes has been lost. Spelling errors abound, they can be found even in the blurb: “Hansebooks is editor of the literature on different topic areas [...] Hansebooks newly publishes these books and contributes to the preservation of literature which has become rare and historical knowledge for the future.” Evidently this is nothing like the original edition, and contains no decent qualities, much less high ones. It tries to instil the idea in the buyer that they have put an effort into this whereas nothing of the sort has happened; in fact, it's just taken straight from Project Gutenberg Australia, where this book has been made available to the public online. The Hansebooks edition even has every OCR scanning error from here – clearly no editing was ever attempted.¹ (Since there is no pagination in this edition and neither is there any in the one by Project Gutenberg Australia, and these are all the editions that are available to me, I am unable to provide a page reference in the citations whenever I quote this work.)
In short: This is a cash grab – the print costs thirty US dollars – based on false, deceptive premises, i.e. a scam.
Don't buy the Hansebooks edition. I would normally have recommended a photocopied edition because of the stronger connection one feels with its day and age, but, as previously stated, none seems to exist of The Orphan of the Rhine. Gale's Eighteenth Century Collection Online has a digital photocopy of it, but it never made it to their print editions. Look rather to Valancourt Books, whose books have always held a high standard with regard to quality, and always contain informative forewords written by knowledgable and enthusiastic authors. Alternatively, The Folio Society also published a famed and beautiful edition, a black cloth hardback, but considering the prices that these fetch they should be considered as collectors items only.
To return to The Orphan of the Rhine. As said, Austen included this novel in a recommended reading list when she decided to parody the Gothic romance genre, and this book seems by far to be the most worthy inclusion.
The tale is largely about Laurette, the orphan who, as far as we readers know, never set foot near the Rhine. As an infant she is placed under the care of Julie de Rubine, also known as Madam Chamont, who has recently had a son, Enrico, also known as Chevalier Chamont, potentially out of wedlock. Both children are known or thought to have the same father, a Marchese de Montferrat – so Laurette is never actually thought of as an orphan either, come to think of it – who is a numbskull of a villain akin to a lesser Henry VIII.
So what does these characters do? Much time is spent moping around decrepit castles or rambling in scenery known from the German National Romantic movement. In general the book spends far more time setting moods in overly flowery language than on the actions of its characters. It even regularly introduces new characters who stop by to tell their own tale of how a man cheated on or otherwise betrayed a woman and now that woman has to mope around a castle or a convent. It was common for the publishers of books such as these to pay by the page and the author seems to have attempted to increase their pay by almost a third in this manner.
That is not to say that the author didn't have a love for their art. The frequent quotes from Shakespeare and other poets, not to mention the inclusion of their own poetry, shows an appreciation for language – an appreciation which is also the main reason for the novel's downfall: The prose is so purple that it's often difficult to tell what the author intended to say.
The sullen reserve which had hitherto marked the behaviour of the steward, and was peculiar to his character, was soon after his arrival augmented; and he frequently fixed his eyes upon Madam Chamont, when he accidentally and unavoidably met her, with a look conveying a shrewd and malicious expression. This she perceived with some appearance of emotion; whilst her tormentor, who seemed to derive pleasure from her embarrassment, endeavoured, as much as possible, to increase that distress he was conscious of having excited, with a repetition of his former conduct. (¶1, chapter 8, volume 2)
This quote also serves to illustrate just how silly the villains of the book come across. If a look is enough to torment their object, then clearly they should look even harder. If this quote is insufficient to instil the general confusion of this book, then this next one should certainly be enough to make any reader question what is going on:
The fight now became more desperate; the enemy was joined by a detachment coveniently [sic.] ambushed near the place; (¶7, chapter 9, volume 1)
If the reader of this review is able to deduct what is going on with whom, then they have achieved something this reviewer has been unable to. – Furthermore, the morals of the story are so duplicitous that it's rare to find an equal:
Thus, after the death of his wife, and the departure of his son, who was educated under the eye of one of his mother's relatives in the metropolis, he was left a lonely and solitary being, in whom no one was interested; few gave themselves the trouble to inquire whether he was still in existence, and those who did, lamented, when answered in the affirmative, that the useless were permitted to survive the worthy. (¶11, chapter 9, volume 1)
But when the main characters mope around helplessly this way, and they always do – the only reason there is any resolution in this story at all is because other side-characters beget this resolution for them – and even if the main characters are considered to be just as abandoned by everyone else, while yet they aren't, they are considered worthy sufferers, while this man is considered to be too useless to be permitted to live. The sheer self-righteousness of this novel makes it very hard to take it seriously indeed. And it becomes even more hilarious when the author seems to be entirely oblivious of how she criticises her own profession:
Though Laurette in the course of her reading, had met with some fictitious tales of distress, those abounding in tender description, and that irresistibly affect the fancy, were in some measure prohibited. Madam Chamont, though she had retired early from society, and of course had mixed but little with the world, was sufficiently acquainted with the human heart to be convinced that works of this kind might have a dangerous tendency. She therefore discountenanced in her young pupil that unlimited indulgence, in the passive feelings of sensibility, which inevitably unfits the mind for any undertaking that requires firm and vigorous exertion; she knew that, when deeply affected by tales of imaginary woe, the mind too often sinks into imbecility; and when abstracted from the influence of romantic delusion, it beholds real objects of compassion divested of those false and glowing colours in which they have been exhibited by the song of the Poet, or the pen of the Novelist--it beholds them without sympathetic interest which would extend the arm of active benevolence for their relief. (¶33, chapter 9, volume 2)
If the author is to be believed, reading this novel increases the likelihood of the reader 'sinking into imbecility.' At this point the reader must surely no longer be on the author's side. If not from before this point then at least from thence on, the reader would know to laugh at the cost of the novel rather than follow its sensibilities.
The Orphan of the Rhine, devoid of both orphan and river, lay forgotten in a few old collections. So forgotten in fact that it was believed to be a figment of Austen's mind until a copy again surfaced in 1921. It's only in very recent years that it has been possible for most people to acquire a copy. Dodo press had one edition in 2008, which spread it somewhat, but it wasn't until 2014, when Valancourt Books published their edition, that it finally was made readily available to the world.
Of course, no matter how available it has become, this isn't a book for most readers. Many will likely be curious of it because of its inclusion amongst the Northanger Seven, but it ought to be compared to Ros' Irene Iddesleigh (famed for its exceptionally purple prose) rather than the remaining six of this list. It's entertainingly bad, yet those of us who find the entertainment in such books will often shun the longer works because the entertainment usually doesn't keep well across that many pages. This one keeps it better than most, yet it's worth asking oneself if one is up for it before picking this up. Those who are curious may want to start by perusing the online version on Project Gutenberg Australia, but the first chapters are the best in the book so it's recommended to try a chapter or two further into the book before making a decision.
1. Here is a list of errors from chapters nine and ten of the fourth volume (also the one where the volume title is missing). The reader may search for these in the text on Project Gutenberg Australia as proof. These are the most egregious half of the errors from these twenty pages. Notice the typical OCR errors such as 'h' being scanned as 'li', 'u' as 'ij', and 'n' as 'ri'. Clearly when Hansebooks claims that they have edited this, they are blatantly lying as it is impossible to leave in as many striking errors as this.
“then the Lady of the convent, Iattended by the Nuns”
“distinguishing that the person in waiting was Pali” (The name should be 'Paoli')
“Joy arid sorrow had so uniformly succeeded each other in her past life”
“Anselmio, who is the bearer of this incoherent epistle” (The name should be 'Anselmo')
“as her memory reverted to the scenes she had wit--nessed since she last quitted it.”
“As Madam Cliamont and Laurette continijed to kneel,” (Here the name should be 'Madam Chamont')
“addressed himself to all present witli the most pathetic energy”
“hoping in this holy Friar to behold her early instructor, the lather Benedicta,”
“this singular incident would have excited her curiosity, arid possibly she might have taken some pains to have unravelled an affair which had long engaged her in deep reflection.”
“moving slowly beneath the leafless branches of a chesnut in the attitude ofdeep reflection.”
“[from] the tree under which he was standing, [...] lie seemed to survey her with astonishment”
“she ventured to intnidc upon the sacredness of his sorrow [...] and anxious, though fcarful, to enter upon a conversation”
“When this melancholy event was commumeated to the family [..] each assisted in consoling the othcer”
Also, note: Do not buy the Hansebooks edition! It's a scam! – look three paragraphs down for proof.
There are seven works of the eighteenth century Gothic craze that attained a peculiar position in history: The Northanger Seven, also known as the Northanger Horrid Novels. The Orphan of the Rhine is one of these novels, all of which became known from their inclusion in Austen's Northanger Abbey; the seven come from a list given to the protagonist under the promise that they would be 'horrid'. Of course, since Austen's book was a parody about a girl more or less living inside an over-the-top Gothic novel, the term horrid was there likely used to refer to some quality with regard to how they were written, rather than to how frightening they were. This has not prevented this reviewer from enjoying some of them. The purple prose of The Orphan of the Rhine, however, is exasperating, to put it mildly.
Since it would be nice to compliment such a claim with a few quotes, some have indeed been included in the review further below. However, a digression is needed before I get there. The next four paragraphs will be a warning against purchasing Hansebooks books, and a recommendation as to which editions are good – those who merely wish to read about the novel itself may skip these.
The reason why is this: The Orphan of the Rhine is the only one among the Northanger Seven which I have been unable to find as having been reprinted by photocopy, where an original eighteenth century edition would have been reprinted not just word by word, but with an exact visual copy of each page. I find that these reprints give the reading experience more of a historical feeling, as if they better preserve the essence of the novel's day and age, closing some of the gap between then and now. But, as I said, alas there was no such edition for this novel. So, I bought a copy from a “publisher” that promised to provide me with an “unchanged, high-quality reprint of the original edition of 1798” (blurb, back of the book), which is neither of those things.
Hansebooks is a scam in the sense that this purchase turned out to be “a fraudulent deal” ('scam', Wiktionary) where 'fraudulent' is defined as “based on fraud or deception” (fraudulent, Wiktionary). No one has edited anything, the text has been copy-pasted poorly, then sent to print. There is no pagination. Some of the chapter headers have been lost. The header for one of the four volumes has been lost. Spelling errors abound, they can be found even in the blurb: “Hansebooks is editor of the literature on different topic areas [...] Hansebooks newly publishes these books and contributes to the preservation of literature which has become rare and historical knowledge for the future.” Evidently this is nothing like the original edition, and contains no decent qualities, much less high ones. It tries to instil the idea in the buyer that they have put an effort into this whereas nothing of the sort has happened; in fact, it's just taken straight from Project Gutenberg Australia, where this book has been made available to the public online. The Hansebooks edition even has every OCR scanning error from here – clearly no editing was ever attempted.¹ (Since there is no pagination in this edition and neither is there any in the one by Project Gutenberg Australia, and these are all the editions that are available to me, I am unable to provide a page reference in the citations whenever I quote this work.)
In short: This is a cash grab – the print costs thirty US dollars – based on false, deceptive premises, i.e. a scam.
Don't buy the Hansebooks edition. I would normally have recommended a photocopied edition because of the stronger connection one feels with its day and age, but, as previously stated, none seems to exist of The Orphan of the Rhine. Gale's Eighteenth Century Collection Online has a digital photocopy of it, but it never made it to their print editions. Look rather to Valancourt Books, whose books have always held a high standard with regard to quality, and always contain informative forewords written by knowledgable and enthusiastic authors. Alternatively, The Folio Society also published a famed and beautiful edition, a black cloth hardback, but considering the prices that these fetch they should be considered as collectors items only.
To return to The Orphan of the Rhine. As said, Austen included this novel in a recommended reading list when she decided to parody the Gothic romance genre, and this book seems by far to be the most worthy inclusion.
The tale is largely about Laurette, the orphan who, as far as we readers know, never set foot near the Rhine. As an infant she is placed under the care of Julie de Rubine, also known as Madam Chamont, who has recently had a son, Enrico, also known as Chevalier Chamont, potentially out of wedlock. Both children are known or thought to have the same father, a Marchese de Montferrat – so Laurette is never actually thought of as an orphan either, come to think of it – who is a numbskull of a villain akin to a lesser Henry VIII.
So what does these characters do? Much time is spent moping around decrepit castles or rambling in scenery known from the German National Romantic movement. In general the book spends far more time setting moods in overly flowery language than on the actions of its characters. It even regularly introduces new characters who stop by to tell their own tale of how a man cheated on or otherwise betrayed a woman and now that woman has to mope around a castle or a convent. It was common for the publishers of books such as these to pay by the page and the author seems to have attempted to increase their pay by almost a third in this manner.
That is not to say that the author didn't have a love for their art. The frequent quotes from Shakespeare and other poets, not to mention the inclusion of their own poetry, shows an appreciation for language – an appreciation which is also the main reason for the novel's downfall: The prose is so purple that it's often difficult to tell what the author intended to say.
The sullen reserve which had hitherto marked the behaviour of the steward, and was peculiar to his character, was soon after his arrival augmented; and he frequently fixed his eyes upon Madam Chamont, when he accidentally and unavoidably met her, with a look conveying a shrewd and malicious expression. This she perceived with some appearance of emotion; whilst her tormentor, who seemed to derive pleasure from her embarrassment, endeavoured, as much as possible, to increase that distress he was conscious of having excited, with a repetition of his former conduct. (¶1, chapter 8, volume 2)
This quote also serves to illustrate just how silly the villains of the book come across. If a look is enough to torment their object, then clearly they should look even harder. If this quote is insufficient to instil the general confusion of this book, then this next one should certainly be enough to make any reader question what is going on:
The fight now became more desperate; the enemy was joined by a detachment coveniently [sic.] ambushed near the place; (¶7, chapter 9, volume 1)
If the reader of this review is able to deduct what is going on with whom, then they have achieved something this reviewer has been unable to. – Furthermore, the morals of the story are so duplicitous that it's rare to find an equal:
Thus, after the death of his wife, and the departure of his son, who was educated under the eye of one of his mother's relatives in the metropolis, he was left a lonely and solitary being, in whom no one was interested; few gave themselves the trouble to inquire whether he was still in existence, and those who did, lamented, when answered in the affirmative, that the useless were permitted to survive the worthy. (¶11, chapter 9, volume 1)
But when the main characters mope around helplessly this way, and they always do – the only reason there is any resolution in this story at all is because other side-characters beget this resolution for them – and even if the main characters are considered to be just as abandoned by everyone else, while yet they aren't, they are considered worthy sufferers, while this man is considered to be too useless to be permitted to live. The sheer self-righteousness of this novel makes it very hard to take it seriously indeed. And it becomes even more hilarious when the author seems to be entirely oblivious of how she criticises her own profession:
Though Laurette in the course of her reading, had met with some fictitious tales of distress, those abounding in tender description, and that irresistibly affect the fancy, were in some measure prohibited. Madam Chamont, though she had retired early from society, and of course had mixed but little with the world, was sufficiently acquainted with the human heart to be convinced that works of this kind might have a dangerous tendency. She therefore discountenanced in her young pupil that unlimited indulgence, in the passive feelings of sensibility, which inevitably unfits the mind for any undertaking that requires firm and vigorous exertion; she knew that, when deeply affected by tales of imaginary woe, the mind too often sinks into imbecility; and when abstracted from the influence of romantic delusion, it beholds real objects of compassion divested of those false and glowing colours in which they have been exhibited by the song of the Poet, or the pen of the Novelist--it beholds them without sympathetic interest which would extend the arm of active benevolence for their relief. (¶33, chapter 9, volume 2)
If the author is to be believed, reading this novel increases the likelihood of the reader 'sinking into imbecility.' At this point the reader must surely no longer be on the author's side. If not from before this point then at least from thence on, the reader would know to laugh at the cost of the novel rather than follow its sensibilities.
The Orphan of the Rhine, devoid of both orphan and river, lay forgotten in a few old collections. So forgotten in fact that it was believed to be a figment of Austen's mind until a copy again surfaced in 1921. It's only in very recent years that it has been possible for most people to acquire a copy. Dodo press had one edition in 2008, which spread it somewhat, but it wasn't until 2014, when Valancourt Books published their edition, that it finally was made readily available to the world.
Of course, no matter how available it has become, this isn't a book for most readers. Many will likely be curious of it because of its inclusion amongst the Northanger Seven, but it ought to be compared to Ros' Irene Iddesleigh (famed for its exceptionally purple prose) rather than the remaining six of this list. It's entertainingly bad, yet those of us who find the entertainment in such books will often shun the longer works because the entertainment usually doesn't keep well across that many pages. This one keeps it better than most, yet it's worth asking oneself if one is up for it before picking this up. Those who are curious may want to start by perusing the online version on Project Gutenberg Australia, but the first chapters are the best in the book so it's recommended to try a chapter or two further into the book before making a decision.
1. Here is a list of errors from chapters nine and ten of the fourth volume (also the one where the volume title is missing). The reader may search for these in the text on Project Gutenberg Australia as proof. These are the most egregious half of the errors from these twenty pages. Notice the typical OCR errors such as 'h' being scanned as 'li', 'u' as 'ij', and 'n' as 'ri'. Clearly when Hansebooks claims that they have edited this, they are blatantly lying as it is impossible to leave in as many striking errors as this.
“then the Lady of the convent, Iattended by the Nuns”
“distinguishing that the person in waiting was Pali” (The name should be 'Paoli')
“Joy arid sorrow had so uniformly succeeded each other in her past life”
“Anselmio, who is the bearer of this incoherent epistle” (The name should be 'Anselmo')
“as her memory reverted to the scenes she had wit--nessed since she last quitted it.”
“As Madam Cliamont and Laurette continijed to kneel,” (Here the name should be 'Madam Chamont')
“addressed himself to all present witli the most pathetic energy”
“hoping in this holy Friar to behold her early instructor, the lather Benedicta,”
“this singular incident would have excited her curiosity, arid possibly she might have taken some pains to have unravelled an affair which had long engaged her in deep reflection.”
“moving slowly beneath the leafless branches of a chesnut in the attitude ofdeep reflection.”
“[from] the tree under which he was standing, [...] lie seemed to survey her with astonishment”
“she ventured to intnidc upon the sacredness of his sorrow [...] and anxious, though fcarful, to enter upon a conversation”
“When this melancholy event was commumeated to the family [..] each assisted in consoling the othcer”
November 8, 2025
This is one of the novels that Jane Austen made fun of and she was right to do so. It's hysterically ridiculous, but at the same time so self important and full of moral preaching that it almost stops being fun.
December 27, 2022
Read via the Australian collection of Project Gutenberg. The second read of the seven "Horrid Novels" listed in Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey.
If you've never read a Gothic Romance and you want to know which novels fit the bill to an absolute "T," this is the read I would recommend. All genres of literature have their tropes, and Sleath managed to work in every last trope of Gothic Romance into this work. Rich men of nobility that trick unsuspecting women into illegitimate marriages? Check. Dark, crumbling castles with secret passages and mysterious figures that seemingly haunt the heroine? Check. Robbers/banditti lying in wait to abduct the heroine and secret her away to abandoned cottages or castles unknown? Check. Corrupt monks and/or nuns? Check. Most of the novel being stories told in first person to the heroine that all just happen to tie in with the overall narrative? Check.
This novel really does have every single narrative thread I would expect to come across in a Gothic novel, and while I love that (cos Gothic Romances are one of my favorite genres of literature), it's not done in a particularly exciting way. All of the characters talk the same way which leads to them all feeling rather bland, and when literally every female character meets with similar misfortunes in their back stories, it all just begins to feel interchangeable and innocuous. So, if you're a huge fan of Gothic Romance as a genre (or even just interested in reading stories that Catherine Morland would have been breathlessly reading by candlelight), then check this out because it is a shining example of the kind of stories you will come across in this genre. But, if you're well versed in Gothic Romance and are looking for a story that will leave you on the edge of your seat or shaking your metaphorical fan at the scandal of it all...well, this isn't that.
If you've never read a Gothic Romance and you want to know which novels fit the bill to an absolute "T," this is the read I would recommend. All genres of literature have their tropes, and Sleath managed to work in every last trope of Gothic Romance into this work. Rich men of nobility that trick unsuspecting women into illegitimate marriages? Check. Dark, crumbling castles with secret passages and mysterious figures that seemingly haunt the heroine? Check. Robbers/banditti lying in wait to abduct the heroine and secret her away to abandoned cottages or castles unknown? Check. Corrupt monks and/or nuns? Check. Most of the novel being stories told in first person to the heroine that all just happen to tie in with the overall narrative? Check.
This novel really does have every single narrative thread I would expect to come across in a Gothic novel, and while I love that (cos Gothic Romances are one of my favorite genres of literature), it's not done in a particularly exciting way. All of the characters talk the same way which leads to them all feeling rather bland, and when literally every female character meets with similar misfortunes in their back stories, it all just begins to feel interchangeable and innocuous. So, if you're a huge fan of Gothic Romance as a genre (or even just interested in reading stories that Catherine Morland would have been breathlessly reading by candlelight), then check this out because it is a shining example of the kind of stories you will come across in this genre. But, if you're well versed in Gothic Romance and are looking for a story that will leave you on the edge of your seat or shaking your metaphorical fan at the scandal of it all...well, this isn't that.
October 4, 2023
Rural seclusion and retirement from the world appear both virtuous and desirable in this book, but allow me to offer a counter perspective: if you know more than literally two women then you don't have to marry your sister.
June 23, 2021
Very few horrid or exciting events are depicted as they happen. Instead, most of the tales of treachery, suffering, and heartache are explained to other characters after the events. This method dulls the suspense. Additionally, many of the tales are similar, which is dull to read. Finally, the story depicts few elements of the Gothic beyond the settings, monks, nuns, and monomaniacal despots.
Read
February 1, 2025Gioco alcolico in cui bevi ogni volta che in questo libro la narrazione principale si ferma per dare spazio a un'altra storia completamente inutile dal tono moraleggiante (coma etilico a metà del primo volume)
August 24, 2023
Pretty standard gothic with the usual character and location details.
May 10, 2024
I mostly enjoyed this book but it gets confusing when the characters have so many different names and such
January 17, 2024
In most of the Horrid Novels of Northanger Abbey but also in early British Gothic literature in general we find mainly imitators of Ann Radcliffe. Of course, as is always the case with imitations, the result most of the time is not particularly good, but this does not mean that there are no exceptions. This book is one such exception, with the author following the successful recipe and doing it very well, even managing to add some things of her own.
The element that dominates the whole story is the unshakable belief that in the end all these people who do evil for their own pleasure find their punishment and that their victims will somehow find atonement. Of course, this element is also present in most books of the genre, but here we find it much more strongly, incorporating the most intense religious feeling that we find in its pages. In contrast, in fact, to most books of the genre, the Catholic Church is presented here much more positively and does not appear as a corrupt, representative of a crumbling old regime, which has led experts to believe that the author was Catholic.
Despite the didactic and often moralizing style of the narrative, however, the story remains interesting and even exciting, focusing as always on the sensitive and fragile women who become the victims of oppression and with moral men ασ allies try to do the best they can against the backdrop of natural landscapes and half-ruined castles and monasteries. Which is what we adore in early gothic novels.
Στα περισσότερα από τα Horrid Novels του Northanger Abbey αλλά και γενικότερα στην πρώιμη Βρετανική γοτθική λογοτεχνία συναντάμε κυρίως μιμητές - μιμήτριες συγκεκριμένα - της Ann Radcliffe. Φυσικά όπως συμβαίνει πάντα με τις μιμήσεις το αποτέλεσμα τις περισσότερες φορές δεν είναι και ιδιαίτερα καλό, αυτό, όμως, δεν σημαίνει ότι δεν υπάρχουν εξαιρέσεις. Μία τέτοια εξαίρεση είναι και αυτό εδώ το βιβλίο, με τη συγγραφέα να ακολουθεί την επιτυχημένη συνταγή κάνοντάς το, όμως, πολύ καλά, καταφέρνοντας μάλιστα να προσθέσει και μερικά δικά της πράγματα.
Το στοιχείο που κυριαρχεί σε όλη την ιστορία είναι η ακλόνητη πεποίθηση ότι στο τέλος όλοι αυτοί οι άνθρωποι που κάνουν το κακό για τη δική τους ευχαρίστηση βρίσκουνε την τιμωρία τους και ότι τα θύματά τους θα βρούμε με κάποιον τρόπο την εξιλέωση. Υπάρχει φυσικά αυτό το στοιχείο και στα περισσότερα βιβλία του είδους, εδώ όμως το συναντάμε πολύ πιο έντονα, εντασσόμενο το πιο έντονο θρησκευτικό συναίσθημα που συναντάμε στις σελίδες του. Σε αντίθεση, μάλιστα, με τα περισσότερα βιβλία του είδους εδώ η Καθολική Εκκλησία παρουσιάζεται πολύ πιο θετικά και δεν εμφανίζεται ως διεφθαρμένη, εκπρόσωπος ενός παλαιού καθεστώτος που καταρρέει, κάτι που έχει κάνει τους ειδικούς να πιστεύουν ότι η συγγραφέας ήταν καθολική.
Παρά το διδακτικό και πολλές φορές ηθικολογικό ύφος της αφήγησης, όμως, η ιστορία παραμένει ενδιαφέρουσα έως και συναρπαστική, με επίκεντρο όπως πάντα τις ευαίσθητες και εύθραυστες γυναίκες που γίνονται τα θύματα της καταπίεσης και με συμμάχους ηθικούς άνδρες προσπαθούν να κάνουν ότι καλύτερο μπορούν με φόντο φυσικά τοπία και μισοερειπωμένα κάστρα και μοναστήρια. Ότι δηλαδή λατρεύουμε στα πρώιμα γοτθικά μυθιστορήματα.
The element that dominates the whole story is the unshakable belief that in the end all these people who do evil for their own pleasure find their punishment and that their victims will somehow find atonement. Of course, this element is also present in most books of the genre, but here we find it much more strongly, incorporating the most intense religious feeling that we find in its pages. In contrast, in fact, to most books of the genre, the Catholic Church is presented here much more positively and does not appear as a corrupt, representative of a crumbling old regime, which has led experts to believe that the author was Catholic.
Despite the didactic and often moralizing style of the narrative, however, the story remains interesting and even exciting, focusing as always on the sensitive and fragile women who become the victims of oppression and with moral men ασ allies try to do the best they can against the backdrop of natural landscapes and half-ruined castles and monasteries. Which is what we adore in early gothic novels.
Στα περισσότερα από τα Horrid Novels του Northanger Abbey αλλά και γενικότερα στην πρώιμη Βρετανική γοτθική λογοτεχνία συναντάμε κυρίως μιμητές - μιμήτριες συγκεκριμένα - της Ann Radcliffe. Φυσικά όπως συμβαίνει πάντα με τις μιμήσεις το αποτέλεσμα τις περισσότερες φορές δεν είναι και ιδιαίτερα καλό, αυτό, όμως, δεν σημαίνει ότι δεν υπάρχουν εξαιρέσεις. Μία τέτοια εξαίρεση είναι και αυτό εδώ το βιβλίο, με τη συγγραφέα να ακολουθεί την επιτυχημένη συνταγή κάνοντάς το, όμως, πολύ καλά, καταφέρνοντας μάλιστα να προσθέσει και μερικά δικά της πράγματα.
Το στοιχείο που κυριαρχεί σε όλη την ιστορία είναι η ακλόνητη πεποίθηση ότι στο τέλος όλοι αυτοί οι άνθρωποι που κάνουν το κακό για τη δική τους ευχαρίστηση βρίσκουνε την τιμωρία τους και ότι τα θύματά τους θα βρούμε με κάποιον τρόπο την εξιλέωση. Υπάρχει φυσικά αυτό το στοιχείο και στα περισσότερα βιβλία του είδους, εδώ όμως το συναντάμε πολύ πιο έντονα, εντασσόμενο το πιο έντονο θρησκευτικό συναίσθημα που συναντάμε στις σελίδες του. Σε αντίθεση, μάλιστα, με τα περισσότερα βιβλία του είδους εδώ η Καθολική Εκκλησία παρουσιάζεται πολύ πιο θετικά και δεν εμφανίζεται ως διεφθαρμένη, εκπρόσωπος ενός παλαιού καθεστώτος που καταρρέει, κάτι που έχει κάνει τους ειδικούς να πιστεύουν ότι η συγγραφέας ήταν καθολική.
Παρά το διδακτικό και πολλές φορές ηθικολογικό ύφος της αφήγησης, όμως, η ιστορία παραμένει ενδιαφέρουσα έως και συναρπαστική, με επίκεντρο όπως πάντα τις ευαίσθητες και εύθραυστες γυναίκες που γίνονται τα θύματα της καταπίεσης και με συμμάχους ηθικούς άνδρες προσπαθούν να κάνουν ότι καλύτερο μπορούν με φόντο φυσικά τοπία και μισοερειπωμένα κάστρα και μοναστήρια. Ότι δηλαδή λατρεύουμε στα πρώιμα γοτθικά μυθιστορήματα.
October 10, 2020
A product of its time. Very derivative of Ann Radcliffe. Glad it's finished. Just have to write an essay on it now
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