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Wylder's Hand
A lost classic by one of the 19th century's most prominent writers of ghost stories and suspense novels
The Wylders and the Brandons share a history of intermarriage, bitter rivalry, villainy, and madness. The wedding of Mark Wylder to his rich and beautiful cousin, Dorcas Brandon, was to inaugurate a harmonious new era at Brandon Hall; but as the ceremony draws near, Mark disappears without trace, leaving Dorcas in shock, and the assembled family in a state of severe agitation. When Mark's letters arrive back at the Hall, postmarked from Europe, the sinister figure of Captain Stanley Lake emerges from the wings to claim Dorcas as his own.
First published in 1864, Wylder's Hand was one of J. Sheridan Le Fanu's most popular novels, but has been largely neglected, until now. It is a nerve-jangling tale of jealousy and murder, for fans of the grisly and gripping.
The Wylders and the Brandons share a history of intermarriage, bitter rivalry, villainy, and madness. The wedding of Mark Wylder to his rich and beautiful cousin, Dorcas Brandon, was to inaugurate a harmonious new era at Brandon Hall; but as the ceremony draws near, Mark disappears without trace, leaving Dorcas in shock, and the assembled family in a state of severe agitation. When Mark's letters arrive back at the Hall, postmarked from Europe, the sinister figure of Captain Stanley Lake emerges from the wings to claim Dorcas as his own.
First published in 1864, Wylder's Hand was one of J. Sheridan Le Fanu's most popular novels, but has been largely neglected, until now. It is a nerve-jangling tale of jealousy and murder, for fans of the grisly and gripping.
502 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1864
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547 people want to read
About the author
J. Sheridan Le Fanu
1,368 books1,396 followersJoseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu was an Irish writer of Gothic tales and mystery novels. He was the leading ghost-story writer of the nineteenth century and was central to the development of the genre in the Victorian era. M.R. James described Le Fanu as "absolutely in the first rank as a writer of ghost stories". Three of his best-known works are Uncle Silas, Carmilla and The House by the Churchyard.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews
January 21, 2024
A rich, atmospheric mystery, compellingly written and really fantastically plotted, with some wonderful characters. I highly recommend it.
October 4, 2016
A Deft Hand That Is Sometimes Shaky
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s novels are always treats. You will invariably get a well-established atmosphere, a bunch of memorable and often ambivalent characters, a touch of the supernatural, one or two intriguing mysteries, some wry humour and a narrative style that operates with gaps which many another of Le Fanu’s colleagues would have filled with hints, thus destroying their effect.
In his novel Wylder’s Hand, which was published in three volumes in 1864 – before that, it had been published in montly instalments –, Le Fanu takes us into the little town of Gylingden – Le Fanu seems to have had a faible for inserting the letter “y” in place names and names of characters, for there are rarely books without such peculiar spellings –, where the Brandons and the Wylders, two branches of an ancient family, are waging their own family war. The old dowager Lady Chelford now aims to end this feud by bringing about a marriage between Dorcas Brandon and Mark Wylder, but to her dismay, Stanley Lake – from another branch of that notorious family – appears on the scene, and also vies for Dorcas’s hand. His chances improve after Mark Wylder’s mysterious dysapperance because Dorcas has every reason to feel herself jilted when the marriage date approaches and there is still no Wylder but only a couple of letters of Wylder wrytten from the continent. There is also a sub-plot involving William Wylder, Mark’s brother, who is a naïve clergyman and who is getting more and more entangled in the web of the scheming lawyer Josiah Larkin.
The novel’s strength lies in the characters – there is the egocentric and ruthless Stanley Lake, and his spirited and courageous syster Rachel – a very self-confident woman by Victorian standards. There is the fawning and hypocritical Larkin, the decent Chelford and his imperious mother, as well as the homely vicar and his loving family. It really takes some time until you might have figured out the true mystery of Mark Wylder’s disappearance, and there is also a wonderful case of poetic justice. And there is even an atmospheric touch of Gothic horror.
Unfortunately, however, Wylder’s Hand suffers from certain narrative blunders, which might be due to the author’s intention to strike the iron while it is yet hot – after all, the preceding The House by the Churchyard proved a major success, and now the author deliberately chose English setting to appeal to a broader readership – and from the fact that it was first published as a series of instalments precluding Le Fanu from revising unwise decisions. The most unwise of these decisions is the use of a first person narrator who cannot always be on the scene, and so we very soon get descriptions of events, thoughts and states of mind the narrator cannot possibly know about. To make it worse, the first person narrator sometimes drops from the plot completely and is repeatedly made to reappear on the scene in a most contrived way. Wylder’s Hand would definitely have been much better off without the first-person-narrator, but unlike Dickens, who allowed the clumsy first-person-narrator to withdraw from the story in The Old Curiosity Shop, Le Fanu could not bring himself to undertake such a necessary step.
The second drawback of the novel is its tendency to meander and to give us lots of details about electioneering, inheritance law and the intricacies of selling real estate, all of which would have needed the firm hand of an editor. Le Fanu’s much wilder hand, however, generously dealt out all these excursions, which makes the pace of the novel slacken in the middle part.
Nevertheless, Wylder’s Hand is a very enjoyable novel, although probably not one of Le Fanu’s best.
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s novels are always treats. You will invariably get a well-established atmosphere, a bunch of memorable and often ambivalent characters, a touch of the supernatural, one or two intriguing mysteries, some wry humour and a narrative style that operates with gaps which many another of Le Fanu’s colleagues would have filled with hints, thus destroying their effect.
In his novel Wylder’s Hand, which was published in three volumes in 1864 – before that, it had been published in montly instalments –, Le Fanu takes us into the little town of Gylingden – Le Fanu seems to have had a faible for inserting the letter “y” in place names and names of characters, for there are rarely books without such peculiar spellings –, where the Brandons and the Wylders, two branches of an ancient family, are waging their own family war. The old dowager Lady Chelford now aims to end this feud by bringing about a marriage between Dorcas Brandon and Mark Wylder, but to her dismay, Stanley Lake – from another branch of that notorious family – appears on the scene, and also vies for Dorcas’s hand. His chances improve after Mark Wylder’s mysterious dysapperance because Dorcas has every reason to feel herself jilted when the marriage date approaches and there is still no Wylder but only a couple of letters of Wylder wrytten from the continent. There is also a sub-plot involving William Wylder, Mark’s brother, who is a naïve clergyman and who is getting more and more entangled in the web of the scheming lawyer Josiah Larkin.
The novel’s strength lies in the characters – there is the egocentric and ruthless Stanley Lake, and his spirited and courageous syster Rachel – a very self-confident woman by Victorian standards. There is the fawning and hypocritical Larkin, the decent Chelford and his imperious mother, as well as the homely vicar and his loving family. It really takes some time until you might have figured out the true mystery of Mark Wylder’s disappearance, and there is also a wonderful case of poetic justice. And there is even an atmospheric touch of Gothic horror.
Unfortunately, however, Wylder’s Hand suffers from certain narrative blunders, which might be due to the author’s intention to strike the iron while it is yet hot – after all, the preceding The House by the Churchyard proved a major success, and now the author deliberately chose English setting to appeal to a broader readership – and from the fact that it was first published as a series of instalments precluding Le Fanu from revising unwise decisions. The most unwise of these decisions is the use of a first person narrator who cannot always be on the scene, and so we very soon get descriptions of events, thoughts and states of mind the narrator cannot possibly know about. To make it worse, the first person narrator sometimes drops from the plot completely and is repeatedly made to reappear on the scene in a most contrived way. Wylder’s Hand would definitely have been much better off without the first-person-narrator, but unlike Dickens, who allowed the clumsy first-person-narrator to withdraw from the story in The Old Curiosity Shop, Le Fanu could not bring himself to undertake such a necessary step.
The second drawback of the novel is its tendency to meander and to give us lots of details about electioneering, inheritance law and the intricacies of selling real estate, all of which would have needed the firm hand of an editor. Le Fanu’s much wilder hand, however, generously dealt out all these excursions, which makes the pace of the novel slacken in the middle part.
Nevertheless, Wylder’s Hand is a very enjoyable novel, although probably not one of Le Fanu’s best.
September 18, 2011
I’m a big fan of Joseph Sheridan le Fanu’s gothic fictions, especially Carmilla and Green Tea, but until now I hadn’t sampled any of his sensation novels. After reading Wylder’s Hand I can see myself tracking down lot more of his work in this genre!
The sensation novel was a kind of Victorian ancestor to the detective novel, with a crime as the lynchpin of the plot but generally without an actual detective as hero, and with a pinch of melodrama.
The plot of Wylder’s Hand is convoluted and contrived to an extraordinary degree, but I’d see that as a plus rather than a minus. It was really a convention of the genre (and I suppose it’s a convention of crime fiction in general) to have a fiendishly complicated plot.
The Wylder and Brandon families are in fact branches of the same family, and the vast Brandon estates have for generations passed back and forth between the two families. It’s become a tradition for the current holder of the estate to leave a devious will that renders the future ownership of the estates open to all kinds of legal wranglings and bitter family disputes. As the novel opens the provisions of the latest will have made it highly desirable for a marriage to take place between the young and beautiful Dorcas Brandon and Mark Wylder, a marriage that would unite two fortunes and clarify the complex ownership situation. Which would be all well and good, apart from the inconvenient fact that Mark isn’t especially attracted to Dorcas while Dorcas dislikes Mark quite intensely, and Mark has an unexpected rival.
There’s an important sub-plot involving Mark’s impoverished brother, the Reverend William Wylder, and the machinations of the unscrupulous lawyer Josiah Larkin. Other important players are Rachel and Stanley Lake, brother and sister and belonging to yet another branch of the same family tree.
The main plot unfolds slowly, with a mysterious disappearance and dark hints of past crimes and shameful secrets. The fairly leisurely pacing works well, building the tension very effectively.
While the plot is highly melodramatic the characters are complex and sometimes surprising. The chief villain is not a stock villain out of melodrama at all. He’s certainly selfish and ruthless, but as the narrator points out there’s no actual malice in him. He won’t hesitate to hurt anyone who gets in his way, but he won’t inflict injury for the mere pleasure of doing so. The secondary villain is much more sinister. He is a chilling portrait of hypocrisy in action, a man who has even managed to convince himself that he is virtuous whilst he commits the most outrageous frauds.
Wylder’s Hand is a must for any fans of the Victorian sensation novel.
The sensation novel was a kind of Victorian ancestor to the detective novel, with a crime as the lynchpin of the plot but generally without an actual detective as hero, and with a pinch of melodrama.
The plot of Wylder’s Hand is convoluted and contrived to an extraordinary degree, but I’d see that as a plus rather than a minus. It was really a convention of the genre (and I suppose it’s a convention of crime fiction in general) to have a fiendishly complicated plot.
The Wylder and Brandon families are in fact branches of the same family, and the vast Brandon estates have for generations passed back and forth between the two families. It’s become a tradition for the current holder of the estate to leave a devious will that renders the future ownership of the estates open to all kinds of legal wranglings and bitter family disputes. As the novel opens the provisions of the latest will have made it highly desirable for a marriage to take place between the young and beautiful Dorcas Brandon and Mark Wylder, a marriage that would unite two fortunes and clarify the complex ownership situation. Which would be all well and good, apart from the inconvenient fact that Mark isn’t especially attracted to Dorcas while Dorcas dislikes Mark quite intensely, and Mark has an unexpected rival.
There’s an important sub-plot involving Mark’s impoverished brother, the Reverend William Wylder, and the machinations of the unscrupulous lawyer Josiah Larkin. Other important players are Rachel and Stanley Lake, brother and sister and belonging to yet another branch of the same family tree.
The main plot unfolds slowly, with a mysterious disappearance and dark hints of past crimes and shameful secrets. The fairly leisurely pacing works well, building the tension very effectively.
While the plot is highly melodramatic the characters are complex and sometimes surprising. The chief villain is not a stock villain out of melodrama at all. He’s certainly selfish and ruthless, but as the narrator points out there’s no actual malice in him. He won’t hesitate to hurt anyone who gets in his way, but he won’t inflict injury for the mere pleasure of doing so. The secondary villain is much more sinister. He is a chilling portrait of hypocrisy in action, a man who has even managed to convince himself that he is virtuous whilst he commits the most outrageous frauds.
Wylder’s Hand is a must for any fans of the Victorian sensation novel.
February 4, 2010
A very effective mystery story, albeit one without a sleuth, but rather a story in which a central mystery is established, hints are dropped, consequences are shown and a sustained atmosphere of suspense maintained until all is revealed in a final cataclysm. Pacing is one of Le Fanu's great strengths, and he maintains interest and tension very well over the course of about 400 pages with a cast of vivid characters, including several nasty villains, two fascinating heroines, a possibly spectral and quite oracular uncle and many others. There are interesting subplots to hold interest, several moments of wonderfully Gothic atmosphere, beautiful descriptive passages, witty and philosophical asides and enough clues being dropped throughout the novel to keep the reader constantly engaged in trying to figure it all out. Very good, but I just don't feel it's one of Le Fanu's best, which can be quite sublime indeed.
Favourite quote: on the morning after a nocturnal visit from the aforementioned uncle, the narrator declares: 'I was growing most uncomfortably like one of Mrs. Anne Radcliffe's heroes - a race of nervous demigods.'
Favourite quote: on the morning after a nocturnal visit from the aforementioned uncle, the narrator declares: 'I was growing most uncomfortably like one of Mrs. Anne Radcliffe's heroes - a race of nervous demigods.'
December 21, 2010
I don't know yet what to make of this book - is it going to be a supernatural story, or just a mystery like Uncle Silas? - and it starts very slowly, but hey, it's Le Fanu, I'm gonna stick around.
And I'm glad I did. Le Fanu is the only author who always manages to surprise me. After the first half the book was difficult to put down. And I wonder what really was going on between Rachel and Dorcas... I hope they lived happily together in Venice.
<3 for Le Fanu and gotta love hisearly lolcat speak take on the dialect by the way.
And I'm glad I did. Le Fanu is the only author who always manages to surprise me. After the first half the book was difficult to put down. And I wonder what really was going on between Rachel and Dorcas... I hope they lived happily together in Venice.
<3 for Le Fanu and gotta love his
October 14, 2009
A fun book with an intricate plot. Originally published serially, it's best read at least somewhat episodically so that it's length doesn't feel so cumbersome.
January 22, 2012
When Mark Wylder, engaged by convenience to his cousin, Dorcas Brandon, disappears with only a few unaddressed letters giving hint to his movements, the marriage and estate falls into the hands of Stanley Lake, a schemer ruled by his temper and jealousies; but is the change merely seized upon by Lake, or influenced by him from the beginning? And why is his sister Rachel thrown into despair by his – and her own – actions? Le Fanu’s novel, though not perfect, sustains a tense air of mystery and subtle horror.
The strengths of the novel are the charm of the narrative, the author’s crafty suspension of the mystery, and the liveliness of the characters, both vile and sympathetic… the self-interested attorney, Larkin and the naïve Vicar, William Wylder, are a splendid contrast, particularly when the one arrays himself against the other, and that part of the story is utterly satisfying. The narrator, however, begins well and is then proven a pointless addition to the cast, disappearing for hundreds of pages at a time while merrily recounting events he can have had no knowledge of, after his own part had dwindled into the distance… this was somewhat irritating, for had he been absent from the start, the reader would have needed no ‘on scene’ narrator, but once he’d been introduced, the question of his absentee storytelling, and the distraction of suddenly encountering the immediate ‘I’, seemingly for the sake of letting the reader know that the author hadn’t forgotten how he’d begun, detracted from the story quite a bit.
There’s a pacing problem… it’s not too apparent but for a lag in the middle, until the end, when the mystery of Wylder’s disappearance is resolved with an almost negligent summarising; and part of it is resolved unsatisfactorily, to my mind.
It was, however, worth the read; the air of mystery and menace were skilfully handled, and I enjoyed each and every character encountered. I read Lady Audley’s Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon only last year, and rate that much more highly, but Wylder’s Hand is still a reasonably engaging work of classic crime fiction.
The strengths of the novel are the charm of the narrative, the author’s crafty suspension of the mystery, and the liveliness of the characters, both vile and sympathetic… the self-interested attorney, Larkin and the naïve Vicar, William Wylder, are a splendid contrast, particularly when the one arrays himself against the other, and that part of the story is utterly satisfying. The narrator, however, begins well and is then proven a pointless addition to the cast, disappearing for hundreds of pages at a time while merrily recounting events he can have had no knowledge of, after his own part had dwindled into the distance… this was somewhat irritating, for had he been absent from the start, the reader would have needed no ‘on scene’ narrator, but once he’d been introduced, the question of his absentee storytelling, and the distraction of suddenly encountering the immediate ‘I’, seemingly for the sake of letting the reader know that the author hadn’t forgotten how he’d begun, detracted from the story quite a bit.
There’s a pacing problem… it’s not too apparent but for a lag in the middle, until the end, when the mystery of Wylder’s disappearance is resolved with an almost negligent summarising; and part of it is resolved unsatisfactorily, to my mind.
It was, however, worth the read; the air of mystery and menace were skilfully handled, and I enjoyed each and every character encountered. I read Lady Audley’s Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon only last year, and rate that much more highly, but Wylder’s Hand is still a reasonably engaging work of classic crime fiction.
September 24, 2014
I loved this Victorian novel of mystery and suspense. The plot is like something Wilkie Collins might have written (though Le Fanu came first) but the language and style are much more accessible, which is perhaps why Le Fanu is not better known – he was written off as a popular ‘sensation’ novelist. These days perhaps we’re less judgmental about a writer’s ability to tell a good story.
The novel has its faults, e.g. the first person narrator tells us things he couldn’t have known and describes scenes where he wasn’t present. I thought we’d find out at the end that these things had been related to him by a certain other character, but the ending wasn’t what I expected from that point of view, while the solution to the mystery was fairly obvious, I thought, and the last section was more about how the truth would be revealed and how the villains would be dealt with. But Le Fanu is such a master of building suspense that I still couldn’t put it down towards the end.
This was my first Le Fanu and I’m now eager to read more, especially Uncle Silas and Carmilla.
The novel has its faults, e.g. the first person narrator tells us things he couldn’t have known and describes scenes where he wasn’t present. I thought we’d find out at the end that these things had been related to him by a certain other character, but the ending wasn’t what I expected from that point of view, while the solution to the mystery was fairly obvious, I thought, and the last section was more about how the truth would be revealed and how the villains would be dealt with. But Le Fanu is such a master of building suspense that I still couldn’t put it down towards the end.
This was my first Le Fanu and I’m now eager to read more, especially Uncle Silas and Carmilla.
June 17, 2020
This book was rated so high for me because the language is simply beautiful. How he uses a phrase to introduce a character, set the scene, or move the plot along is remarkable.
Some stand outs
... and he was a person of that combative temperament that magnifies an object in proportion as its pursuit is thwarted.
There was nothing very genial or promising, therefore, in the relations of our little party, and I did not expect a very agreeable evening.
[He] could be very amusing; but I doubt if our talk would quite stand the test of print.
... as worlds first begin and thinnest vapor, and whirl themselves in time into consistency and form, so do these dark machinations, which at times gather round unsuspecting morals at points of revolution, begin nebulously and intangibly, and grow in volume and in density, till a colossal system, which it's inexorable tendencies and forces, crushes into internal darkness the center it has enveloped.
Some stand outs
... and he was a person of that combative temperament that magnifies an object in proportion as its pursuit is thwarted.
There was nothing very genial or promising, therefore, in the relations of our little party, and I did not expect a very agreeable evening.
[He] could be very amusing; but I doubt if our talk would quite stand the test of print.
... as worlds first begin and thinnest vapor, and whirl themselves in time into consistency and form, so do these dark machinations, which at times gather round unsuspecting morals at points of revolution, begin nebulously and intangibly, and grow in volume and in density, till a colossal system, which it's inexorable tendencies and forces, crushes into internal darkness the center it has enveloped.
November 18, 2012
Good grief, I have to say I'm relieved to have finished that!!! Although now looking back on Wylder's Hand as a full novel I can appreciate its impressiveness and dark storyline, there were times during it that it felt like walking through treacle, particularly the descriptions of electioneering and conveyancing which thankfully were relatively brief. I completely agree with another reviewer's view that there is absolutely no need for a 'narrator' in this story, a gentleman who begins the narrative as being present but then disappears and continues to write about circumstances which he coud not possibly have known about. Bizarre.
The characters are vivid and dramatic, the locations beautifully described and memorable. I am a huge fan of Wilkie Collins, however, and find his works just as full of wonderful people and places without the sometimes unnecessary flounciness of Le Fanu.
Read
June 29, 2016It's peculiar how badly pulp literature ages. I'm not sure why that is, exactly, but here we go. A hundred and fifty years ago everyone in England had read Walter Scott, he was absolutely ubiquitous, he was more than a writer he was a cultural reference point. If you wanted (so I gather) to make fun of someone's intellectual pretensions you might say of them that they were big Walter Scott fans, that kind of thing. These days, who on Earth has even read the Waverly novels? Anyway, Wylder's Hand – it's a murder mystery, basically, with a touch of the supernatural. If condensed to about half the length—which, actually, wouldn't be all that difficult—it would be entertaining. The writing isn't bad and there's some pathos to it. But it's 500 pages instead of 200, and a lot of them don't add anything to the plot, and I was bored quite a bit, which is acceptable if you're reading, say, a cultural history of Victorian-era Britain but not for pulp. Skip.
November 5, 2013
Picked this up at Halloween for the spookiness, but found the spooky much diluted. Le Fanu is great at moody scenery, ghostly madmen, hallucinations in the drawing room. He's not so good at organizing a novel: bad (pointless) choice of narrator; crucial mystery details subsumed by fuzzy, long-winded dissertations on real estate law and politics; and murderously slow pacing shoving the revelations to the last chapter.
Note: this really isn't a horror novel, though the horrific parts are the best parts. It's a sensational (in the descriptive sense) psychological novel, and I found about half the psychology pretty half-baked. There are touching scenes, infuriating villains, and a strong heroine balanced by a spacy one. But I wanted a lot more of Uncle Lorne.
Amusing sidenote: one of the characters is named "Dorcas," and the term of endearment used for her is "Dorkie."
Note: this really isn't a horror novel, though the horrific parts are the best parts. It's a sensational (in the descriptive sense) psychological novel, and I found about half the psychology pretty half-baked. There are touching scenes, infuriating villains, and a strong heroine balanced by a spacy one. But I wanted a lot more of Uncle Lorne.
Amusing sidenote: one of the characters is named "Dorcas," and the term of endearment used for her is "Dorkie."
February 2, 2014
A classic semi-horror/mystery tale, Le Fanu is rather descriptive and quite detailed regarding people, places, histories, and general situations throughout the novel...
The plot highlights the Wylder and Brandon families, both prone to frequent disagreements, and begins with a proposed marriage between Mark Wylder and Dorcas Brandon, note that they aren't particularly keen on marriage...
But then, Mark Wylder vanishes and issues specific to Mark's brother, William and the lawyer Josiah Larkin surface... We are also introduced to brother and sister Rachel and Stanley Lake, both key elements in the tale...
The plot highlights the Wylder and Brandon families, both prone to frequent disagreements, and begins with a proposed marriage between Mark Wylder and Dorcas Brandon, note that they aren't particularly keen on marriage...
But then, Mark Wylder vanishes and issues specific to Mark's brother, William and the lawyer Josiah Larkin surface... We are also introduced to brother and sister Rachel and Stanley Lake, both key elements in the tale...
December 19, 2016
Dickensian intrigue with the merest hint of the supernatural. Atmospheric, with quite a good ending.
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu was an Irish author, probably best known for the short story 'Carmilla' about a female vampire. Carmilla was a great influence on Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula, and has been used as the basis of many horror films. Le Fanu was the author of many other excellent gothic horror short stories. His best known novels are Uncle Silas and The House by the Churchyard, both dripping with gothic chills.
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu was an Irish author, probably best known for the short story 'Carmilla' about a female vampire. Carmilla was a great influence on Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula, and has been used as the basis of many horror films. Le Fanu was the author of many other excellent gothic horror short stories. His best known novels are Uncle Silas and The House by the Churchyard, both dripping with gothic chills.
March 4, 2020
I simply plunged into this book, a good diversion from the doomy world I now inhabit. It kept my interest from start to finish. The heroine is admirable though not enviable, which is a good situation from a narrative point of view. There is a phantom which was not much demystified even when we learnt more of its backstory. Like all good spectres you are left wanting more.
November 8, 2020
Is it possible to write a mystery and a psychological thriller at the same time? Of course, yes, but it is fair to say that the two styles of writing are in immediate conflict with one another.
A psychological thriller relies on a study of the motivations of the characters before the events, and an examination of the mental and emotional consequences for those characters after the events. A mystery relies on keeping the reader in the dark about what is going on. How then can you enter the heads of the characters without revealing important information that gives away the mystery?
I doubt that J Sheridan le Fanu would consider himself to be a writer of psychological thrillers, or that the term had even been invented in his time. While the nineteenth century saw a greater rise in introspective writing, emotions tended to be expressed on the surface – through first person narration, letters or soliloquies. Hidden or subconscious instincts lay in the future of writing after Freud made them fashionable.
Nonetheless one of the problems with Wylder’s Hand is that the two elements clash, and the book feels over-long for a mystery. How can we engage in the appalled behaviour of Rachel Lake, or the callous machinations of her brother Stanley when we do not actually know what they have done?
The story seems straightforward enough. Mark Wylder is due to be married to Dorcas Brandon. It is a money match, and both parties would rather be marrying someone else. Suddenly Mark Wylder disappears under mysterious circumstances.
We have to wait a long time to find out what happened to Wylder, but we are told that the Lakes are involved in his disappearance, and that Rachel is horrified by the action. She has been an accomplice to her brother, but is disgusted with her role in it, and what he made her do.
Meanwhile Stanley can now pursue Dorcas, but a complication is added when Wylder’s lawyer Mr Larkin becomes suspicious of the Lakes’ involvement in Wylder’s disappearance. Larkin is also seeking to milk Wylder’s clergyman brother for his estate by exploiting some innocent debts that the feckless William Wylder ran up.
It might seem rather obvious what must have happened to Wylder, but le Fanu engages in some artful misdirection that keeps the reader guessing. If Wylder is dead, then why is he still writing letters? Nonetheless the letters show an inconsistency (which I will not reveal) that causes Larkin to doubt their probity.
The last 50 pages contain so many twists that le Fanu cunningly prevents the reader from feeling too complacent about the outcome. It does make for a satisfying conclusion, however improbable.
Still Wylder’s Hand does have some infelicities of style. There is another lawyer who is narrating the story, but le Fanu finds him so inconvenient for telling many of the events that he mostly forgets the narrator’s existence. There is also a fatuous ghost story thrown in, assuming he is a ghost (the narrator has his doubts).
Le Fanu paints a cynical picture of the wealthier classes in England at the time – a world of legal malfeasance, conspiracy, feckless debts, violent fights based on honour and loveless marriages of convenience. For much of the book this element is more interesting than the mystery (until the final act of the book when the mystery becomes more absorbing).
Overall Wylder’s Hand is an entertaining read. The frame is rather too big for the content, and it might have worked better as a 300-page book. Still it is mildly entertaining, and not a chore to read.
A psychological thriller relies on a study of the motivations of the characters before the events, and an examination of the mental and emotional consequences for those characters after the events. A mystery relies on keeping the reader in the dark about what is going on. How then can you enter the heads of the characters without revealing important information that gives away the mystery?
I doubt that J Sheridan le Fanu would consider himself to be a writer of psychological thrillers, or that the term had even been invented in his time. While the nineteenth century saw a greater rise in introspective writing, emotions tended to be expressed on the surface – through first person narration, letters or soliloquies. Hidden or subconscious instincts lay in the future of writing after Freud made them fashionable.
Nonetheless one of the problems with Wylder’s Hand is that the two elements clash, and the book feels over-long for a mystery. How can we engage in the appalled behaviour of Rachel Lake, or the callous machinations of her brother Stanley when we do not actually know what they have done?
The story seems straightforward enough. Mark Wylder is due to be married to Dorcas Brandon. It is a money match, and both parties would rather be marrying someone else. Suddenly Mark Wylder disappears under mysterious circumstances.
We have to wait a long time to find out what happened to Wylder, but we are told that the Lakes are involved in his disappearance, and that Rachel is horrified by the action. She has been an accomplice to her brother, but is disgusted with her role in it, and what he made her do.
Meanwhile Stanley can now pursue Dorcas, but a complication is added when Wylder’s lawyer Mr Larkin becomes suspicious of the Lakes’ involvement in Wylder’s disappearance. Larkin is also seeking to milk Wylder’s clergyman brother for his estate by exploiting some innocent debts that the feckless William Wylder ran up.
It might seem rather obvious what must have happened to Wylder, but le Fanu engages in some artful misdirection that keeps the reader guessing. If Wylder is dead, then why is he still writing letters? Nonetheless the letters show an inconsistency (which I will not reveal) that causes Larkin to doubt their probity.
The last 50 pages contain so many twists that le Fanu cunningly prevents the reader from feeling too complacent about the outcome. It does make for a satisfying conclusion, however improbable.
Still Wylder’s Hand does have some infelicities of style. There is another lawyer who is narrating the story, but le Fanu finds him so inconvenient for telling many of the events that he mostly forgets the narrator’s existence. There is also a fatuous ghost story thrown in, assuming he is a ghost (the narrator has his doubts).
Le Fanu paints a cynical picture of the wealthier classes in England at the time – a world of legal malfeasance, conspiracy, feckless debts, violent fights based on honour and loveless marriages of convenience. For much of the book this element is more interesting than the mystery (until the final act of the book when the mystery becomes more absorbing).
Overall Wylder’s Hand is an entertaining read. The frame is rather too big for the content, and it might have worked better as a 300-page book. Still it is mildly entertaining, and not a chore to read.
November 29, 2025
A stylishly written precursor to the popular detective fiction toward the end of the century that comes with all the trappings of an emerging subgenre that's still learning to grip the pen in its own bewildered hand.
The novel's strengths of rounded characters and aphorismic description take the form of bold pillars that hold up a crackled ceiling, chipped at the edges where the tapestry of plot and structure come unwoven through their own muddled convolution.
The combination of a mostly consistent first person narrative with epistolary view switches is admirably ambitious to say the least. Yet the sheer amount of red herrings, padded out chapters and sparsity of pacing spread far too thin over a large page count make for an incomplete package.
All that being said, Wylder's Hand is still a sadly underrated sensation novel that deserves more recognition not only for what it gets right but also what it dares to try and, in its immediate failures, creates a success in the long run by serving as an early example of later beloved genres of popular crime fiction.
Anyone looking for a unique blend of missing person mystery and supernatural chiller can find a worthwhile read here; it takes a while to get to the meat of the story but patience is rewarded with wonderful characters to which the plot takes a back seat. The vibes and voice are the focus here, rather than the capers and crusades, aesthetics which overstay their welcome but for the most part make up an uneven but now-and-then rewarding time.
It's not quite Carmilla, but Le Fanu's signature atmosphere is on full display to uncanny effect, elevating some of the more drawn out portions.
If it were about half the length with a more clearly defined plot there's no doubt this would be a wider read classic. Yet there's a beauty to its obscurity all its own, a niche-within-a-niche-ness that unapologetically marks it as someone somewhere's oddly specific favourite, and sometimes those can be just as good in an ugly duckling sort of way.
The novel's strengths of rounded characters and aphorismic description take the form of bold pillars that hold up a crackled ceiling, chipped at the edges where the tapestry of plot and structure come unwoven through their own muddled convolution.
The combination of a mostly consistent first person narrative with epistolary view switches is admirably ambitious to say the least. Yet the sheer amount of red herrings, padded out chapters and sparsity of pacing spread far too thin over a large page count make for an incomplete package.
All that being said, Wylder's Hand is still a sadly underrated sensation novel that deserves more recognition not only for what it gets right but also what it dares to try and, in its immediate failures, creates a success in the long run by serving as an early example of later beloved genres of popular crime fiction.
Anyone looking for a unique blend of missing person mystery and supernatural chiller can find a worthwhile read here; it takes a while to get to the meat of the story but patience is rewarded with wonderful characters to which the plot takes a back seat. The vibes and voice are the focus here, rather than the capers and crusades, aesthetics which overstay their welcome but for the most part make up an uneven but now-and-then rewarding time.
It's not quite Carmilla, but Le Fanu's signature atmosphere is on full display to uncanny effect, elevating some of the more drawn out portions.
If it were about half the length with a more clearly defined plot there's no doubt this would be a wider read classic. Yet there's a beauty to its obscurity all its own, a niche-within-a-niche-ness that unapologetically marks it as someone somewhere's oddly specific favourite, and sometimes those can be just as good in an ugly duckling sort of way.
August 21, 2025
A pleasure to find another sensation novelist to investigate (I was previously only familiar with Le Fanu’s ghost tales), I enjoyed this book but with reservations. It is an odd choice to have a first-person narrator who is absent from the scene of the action for the majority of the time, but is omniscient regardless. I wonder whether the author changed his mind about this quite early on but had to plough on with it due to the pressures of serialization. The characters sometimes behave in implausible and inconsistent ways to fit the requirements of the story. At one point, when Le Fanu needs somebody to do something very unlikely, he rather outrageously resorts to this bit of obscuration:
But that I am so far from understanding myself, I should often be amazed at the sayings and doings of other people… I have long ceased, then, to wonder why any living soul does anything that is incongruous and unanticipated.
Some of the plot threads seem to slip from his hands in the final reckoning, and a certain figure is treated amazingly leniently over their part in the conspiracy (Le Fanu must feel this, since he shoehorns in an attempt at Biblical justification). However, the novel is atmospheric, highly readable, and has two entertainingly hissable villains, one whose anger threatens always to get the better of him (‘He could have smashed all the glass upon the table’), and the other, a grasping religious hypocrite. Chapter 72, which brings events to a climax, is absolutely thrilling.
Although, on the basis of this, the author doesn’t quite match up to the best of Wilkie Collins, I’d certainly read Uncle Silas or The House by the Churchyard. Three-and-a-half stars.
But that I am so far from understanding myself, I should often be amazed at the sayings and doings of other people… I have long ceased, then, to wonder why any living soul does anything that is incongruous and unanticipated.
Some of the plot threads seem to slip from his hands in the final reckoning, and a certain figure is treated amazingly leniently over their part in the conspiracy (Le Fanu must feel this, since he shoehorns in an attempt at Biblical justification). However, the novel is atmospheric, highly readable, and has two entertainingly hissable villains, one whose anger threatens always to get the better of him (‘He could have smashed all the glass upon the table’), and the other, a grasping religious hypocrite. Chapter 72, which brings events to a climax, is absolutely thrilling.
Although, on the basis of this, the author doesn’t quite match up to the best of Wilkie Collins, I’d certainly read Uncle Silas or The House by the Churchyard. Three-and-a-half stars.
August 6, 2019
This review was previously posted on the Side Real Press website in 2011.
Le fanu is (rightly) remembered for his excellent ghost stories, which in my opinion, often outshine M. R. James.
However this is not a supernatural affair, but a murder mystery involving the disappearance of Mark Wylder (he of the hand) immediately prior to his wedding. The ramifications of this act are the subject of the tale, as rival lovers, scheming lawyers and downtrodden relatives all interact in the typical convoluted Victorian gothic manner.
What lifts this from so many novels of the period is that Le Fanu rarely drifts into the maudlin (though there is a sick child involved at one point) and the book is enhanced for the lover of supernatural fiction by the an air of gloom that permeates the text especially in the landscape and the minds of most of the lead characters, all of which are finely drawn.
Le Fanu also has some wit; for example a character searching for Wylder visits a landlady one evening who was "at this hour somewhat mellow and talkative". Everyone can picture this character, understands what Le Fanu means, smiles and moves on. There is a lot of this type of thing in the text and this makes the book a joy to read. It must be said that the the third quarter of the book tends to drag its feet a little, but this is more than redeemed by the ending in which everyone gets their just deserts.
All in all, this is a great book and, if anything, is better than 'Uncle Silas' - probably Le Fanus best known novel. At this price it is bargain to boot.
Le fanu is (rightly) remembered for his excellent ghost stories, which in my opinion, often outshine M. R. James.
However this is not a supernatural affair, but a murder mystery involving the disappearance of Mark Wylder (he of the hand) immediately prior to his wedding. The ramifications of this act are the subject of the tale, as rival lovers, scheming lawyers and downtrodden relatives all interact in the typical convoluted Victorian gothic manner.
What lifts this from so many novels of the period is that Le Fanu rarely drifts into the maudlin (though there is a sick child involved at one point) and the book is enhanced for the lover of supernatural fiction by the an air of gloom that permeates the text especially in the landscape and the minds of most of the lead characters, all of which are finely drawn.
Le Fanu also has some wit; for example a character searching for Wylder visits a landlady one evening who was "at this hour somewhat mellow and talkative". Everyone can picture this character, understands what Le Fanu means, smiles and moves on. There is a lot of this type of thing in the text and this makes the book a joy to read. It must be said that the the third quarter of the book tends to drag its feet a little, but this is more than redeemed by the ending in which everyone gets their just deserts.
All in all, this is a great book and, if anything, is better than 'Uncle Silas' - probably Le Fanus best known novel. At this price it is bargain to boot.
May 5, 2021
Mark Wylder’s marriage to Dorcas Brandon will bring about a truce between their families, after centuries of avaricious squabbling over titles, incomes and the ownership of Brandon Hall itself. But, as Charles De Cresseron travels down from London for the festivities, he can’t help marvelling that Mark has pulled it off. Despite their long acquaintance, Charles has never really liked Mark, and his raffish old acquaintance seems unworthy of a stately and beautiful woman like Dorcas Brandon. She, for her part, maintains an air of queenly indifference to her impending marriage: this is clearly no love match. When Mark unaccountably vanishes, shortly before the wedding, all the evidence suggests that he has cut and run; but what has prompted his disappearance? To make matters worse, his departure leaves a convenient gap on the stage at Brandon Hall, and Dorcas has another admirer waiting in the wings: the devilish Captain Stanley Lake, all too eager to take advantage of his rival’s absence. All the components of Victorian Gothic are present and correct: rambling old houses; dark secrets; ghosts and devilry; dastardly plots; innocence under threat; and an abiding mystery at its heart.
For the full review, please see my blog:
https://theidlewoman.net/2021/04/28/w...
For the full review, please see my blog:
https://theidlewoman.net/2021/04/28/w...
May 8, 2020
I found this a somewhat frustrating read. I like Victorian novels well enough, and I enjoyed the author’s “Carmilla” and “Uncle Silas” when I read them many years ago, but in this case I found my patience tried by some of the Victorianisms, and what seemed erratic pacing, sometimes irritatingly slow. However I couldn’t resist the storytelling, and found myself hating lawyer Larkin, feeling for the naive clergyman William Wylder and his cute kid, and wondering what the heck was up with missing Mark Wylder, and what was the secret that affected Rachel Lake so — though in these last 2 matters it seemed a blatantly arbitrary narrative decision to conceal the truth for so long from the reader. Some of the characters were actually quite interesting personalities. Anyway I have to give the books 4 stars for sheer narrative power.
March 26, 2022
En gång i tiden fanns det en bokhandel i Lund som hette Lindstedts. Den låg på Klostergatan där nu Lindex ligger. Jag var en flitig kund. Inne i affären fanns ett litet rum med engelska pocketböcker.
Där upptäckte jag Joseph Sheridan Lefanu. Lefanu var irländare och skrev på 1800talet en rad romaner och novellsamlingar med inslag av spökerier o a spännande övernaturligt. Uncle Silas handlar om ett monster som konspirerar mot en oskyldig ung dam.
Carmilla eller Green Tea är en novell med kvinnliga vampyrer. Smask!
Wylder´s hand är en kriminalhistoria med otäcka karlar och dygdiga tappra kvinnor
i 74 kapitel, skriven på inte helt lättläst 1800talsengelska.
Slutet blir gott. Skurkarna får sina straff och den vackra Dorcas Brandon flyttar ihop med den
tappra Rachel Lake och bosätter sig i Venedig.
Där upptäckte jag Joseph Sheridan Lefanu. Lefanu var irländare och skrev på 1800talet en rad romaner och novellsamlingar med inslag av spökerier o a spännande övernaturligt. Uncle Silas handlar om ett monster som konspirerar mot en oskyldig ung dam.
Carmilla eller Green Tea är en novell med kvinnliga vampyrer. Smask!
Wylder´s hand är en kriminalhistoria med otäcka karlar och dygdiga tappra kvinnor
i 74 kapitel, skriven på inte helt lättläst 1800talsengelska.
Slutet blir gott. Skurkarna får sina straff och den vackra Dorcas Brandon flyttar ihop med den
tappra Rachel Lake och bosätter sig i Venedig.
December 3, 2025
I have just finished reading wylder's hand by j. sheridan le fanu
it is very enjoyable and, having been written as a serial, easy to pick up and put down.
there will now follow a major spoiler.
'the dead themselves declare their dreadful secrets, open mouthed to the winds'
as an attentive reader may surmise when reading the novel wylder has been dead all along. you won't be too shocked to hear that, nor will knowing it impair your reading of the novel. so much action in the weeks from his death to the body being discovered. the evil lawyer larkin's schemes have miscarried. dorcas and rachel lake (our two heroines) make their escape to a gondola on the lagoon in venice (where we see them for the last time).
'all affection is illusion, and perishable with the deceits and vanities of earth'
it is very enjoyable and, having been written as a serial, easy to pick up and put down.
there will now follow a major spoiler.
'the dead themselves declare their dreadful secrets, open mouthed to the winds'
as an attentive reader may surmise when reading the novel wylder has been dead all along. you won't be too shocked to hear that, nor will knowing it impair your reading of the novel. so much action in the weeks from his death to the body being discovered. the evil lawyer larkin's schemes have miscarried. dorcas and rachel lake (our two heroines) make their escape to a gondola on the lagoon in venice (where we see them for the last time).
'all affection is illusion, and perishable with the deceits and vanities of earth'
June 21, 2017
Although this is not my first exposure to Le Fanu, I had previously been acquainted only with his short ghost stories. "Wylder's Hand" is quite a large undertaking, masterfully written, as is the case with most authors of this most brilliant and fecund period of fiction literature. Somewhat over-indulging in unnecessary details at times, it might prove mildly tedious to the reader at some points and intervals. Charmingly dated for the period of its conception and publication, but certainly not to its detriment. If you like Dickens, you will surely to enjoy this book.
November 1, 2021
Relieved and happy to have finished this, a bit confused as to my feelings about this well written book. There is beautiful language and a very mysterious plot, and the characters both good and evil were compelling. However, the book felt too long for me. I was desperate to know the solution and the middle section just seemed to drag this out for ages. The ending did tie everything up nicely though and the conclusion was not disappointing! Overall probably 3.5 stars maximum but I most definitely will look out for more from this author.
August 16, 2018
I was enjoying this book, with its atmospheric descriptions of old houses, thick woods, fabulous jewels and beautiful girls, but then the plot degenerated into melodrama. That wouldn't be so bad if only we had a clue what on earth was going on. Everybody emotes like mad, and screams "We're ruined!" "A slave! A slave!" without telling the reader why. Rachel has just packed a bag and caught a train... I'm giving up.
August 14, 2018
It kept me guessing what was going on until things finally came clear. That's good, but it's also a complaint: some of the comments and actions of the characters make no sense at all until it's revealed, so that one feels one must go back and listen to the whole thing again to put it all in perspective.
December 26, 2021
Slowly paced, intricately woven mystery with many twists and some melodrama. Totally agree with other reviewers, that the use of the narrator was odd, especially when he was not present for many events. I felt the need to re-read significant bits, after the conclusion, to see what details/clues I had missed. I listened to the book on Librivox. Some readers were excellent, but a few were jarring.
July 6, 2023
This book deserves a much higher rating! Dramatic landscapes, heinous men, awful intrigue, villainous but extremely alluring men, strong, complex female characters and a fantastic reveal - what more could you want? A perfect example of how sensationalist Victorian novels deserve much greater critical attention and not simply to be dismissed as 'popular' - the writing is so incredible!
October 19, 2017
A great 19th century mystery/melodrama with plenty of crying damsels and sneering villains. It is a long novel and i did feel some of the later chapters dragged a bit but overall this showed plenty of the wit and atmosphere i have come to expect from this authors stories.
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