Manfroné; or, The One-Handed Monk

Monster She Wrote

by Mary Anne Radcliffe, Lisa Kröger (Introduction)

Manfroné; or, The One-Handed Monk (1809) opens with an unforgettable Gothic scene: a lascivious monk enters the lovely Rosalina’s bedroom at midnight through a secret panel, planning to rape her—but suffers the gruesome loss of his hand when he is caught in the act!

But the one-handed monk is not the only danger facing Rosalina. Her father, the haughty Duca di Rodolpho, is determined to marry her to the cruel Prince di Manfroné and has imprisoned her true love, Montalto, in the castle dungeon. And then there is the mysterious Grimaldi. What are his inscrutable plans, and is he trying to help Rosalina or destroy her?

This new edition of one of the most popular of 19th-century Gothic novels includes the unabridged text of the original four-volume novel and features a new introduction by Lisa Kröger.

Genres: Gothic, Classics, Horror, Fiction, Mystery, 19th Century, Gothic Horror

326 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1809

About the author

Mary Ann Radcliffe wrote her feminist tract The Female Advocate from personal indignation at women's inferior earning opportunities, and her Memoirs from a wish to tell the tale of her woes and struggles. The two are not so distant as at first may seem, since they deal with the same predicament.

Mary Ann Radcliffe also wrote poetry; but the bunch of heterogeneous fictions attributed to her were mostly listed as by 'Mrs Ann Radcliffe' or 'Mrs Radcliffe' before the form 'Mary Anne' was applied to them. It is unlikely, though not impossible, that they were the work of the same person who wrote the feminist tract and the memoir.

Both her date of birth and date of death are not accurately known.

Reviews

[Tony Anuci]

Though, at times, it went extremely flowery; though there were, at times, an exorbitant amount of fainting, sighing, swooning, and beating of the breast; this was a most excellent story. It is not often books of this era are true page turners. This one was a great one 👏👏😊

[Jesse Stclair]

This was wild. Truly an unrelenting page turner. And such a beautiful edition from Valancourt too

[Thomas]

I tried. I really did. It started out well enough, and the introduction gave me hopes that this would be more than another wordy, purply-prosed, antiquated tale, but in the long run, I just couldn't get interested in it beyond its historical value. I just had to stop torturing myself trying to read a book I wasn't enjoying and couldn't muster up the energy to finish.

[Magdalena Morris]

First full length novel in the Monster, She Wrote series (from Valancourt Books), Manfroné; or, The One-Handed Monk is a dramatic 19th century Gothic story heavily influenced by The Castle of Otranto and The Mysteries of Udolpho. The story is excellent and sometimes so over the top, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. We follow the main heroine, Rosalina, who is in love with Montalto, but her father wants to force her into marrying the awful prince Manfrone. From the very first page to the last, there's so much drama, intrigue, ghostly appearances, secrets, creepy monks, blood, swords, a severed hand, fainting, castles (or "castellos"), twists and turns... It's great. I hope the lovely people at Valancourt carry on with the Monster, She Wrote series as I've now read all of them currently available and can't recommend them highly enough.

[Sheena Forsberg]

Another story I have ‘Monster, She Wrote’ to thank for introducing me to. I enjoy gothics, but I admit that I should take the time to read more of them, as well as making an effort to read more works written by women. Thankfully, this story allowed me to do both.
The identity of the author Mary Anne Radcliffe is a bit of a mystery in itself, and it seems fitting that she should have authored this gothic with it’s own fair share of mystery and unknowns.
Although very of its time with the prose one expects, I enjoyed it.
It really doesn’t get more gothic than this; with its damsel in distress, forbidden love, evil monk/foiled rapist, mysterious strangers with secret identities and agendas & subterranean hidden passages. I will also point out that Rosalina is a surprisingly independent heroine to see in an 1809 story, which was refreshing to see between all the instances of sighing characters.
Well worth a read for those of us who had our curiosities piqued with Monster, She Wrote and for people who generally like gothics (or think they might).

[water_bearer]

I’m surprised i haven’t seen a lot of people talk about this book — it’s a classic, good ole gothic romance written at the turn of the 19th century.
I will say, I’ll give it 3.75 stars cus back then they really knew how to overkill the writing. The sentences were so long winded to the point I’d zone out and then read something shocking that I’d have to go back to reread.
Example:
“…from the intoxicating juice of the grape…”
😐
Girl. It’s wine. Just— say— wine!!
And that’s only a snippet of a sentence!

All in all, I do recommend this for anyone who loves gothic romances and is interested in seeing the form being done 2 centuries ago

[Xander Donald]

3.5 stars. This is like Hamlet if everyone in Hamlet was REALLY bad at killing people.

[Laura Kremmel]

It's a typical Gothic novel of the period, drawing from the tradition of Walpole and Radcliffe. It drags a bit more than those others and has a more repetitive plot.

[Wyrd Witch]

No words are sufficient to express my disdain here. The plot twist is so obvious and is yet not revealed till twenty pages before the end. The characters are exceedingly naive and unintelligent. There were so many times that I kept thinking that this evil monk had to have made a Christian Bale Batman voice for the twist to even work. God.

[Dani Disotelle]

the beginning and end were great, the middle was a huge sludge to get through (but i’m glad i did). a predictable storyline, but it was funny seeing how many times our heroine fainted due to feeling overwhelmed. same girl, same.

[J Ramos]

This is the first gothic novel I’ve ever read. Loved the drama tbh

[Sofía Sierra]

wait… mary ann radcliffe did something here… why is she not KNOWN

[juuls]

if there is one thing i have learned in 2025 it is that i do not like gothic fiction because every female lead is INSUFFERABLY STUPID. ROSALINA YOU DESERVED TO GET KIDNAPPED FOR LITERALLY FALLING FOR THE EXACT SAME KIDNAP PLOT A SECOND TIME. YOU DO NOT DESERVE TO BE HAPPY.

[Hayley]

Perfectly serviceable gothic spookiness. A bit convoluted at times - the author actually inserts a chapter halfway through to go over what happened in the first half. And, as another reviewer said, a little repetitive. But it's a fun addition to a fun tradition.