A Sicilian Romance

by Ann RADCLIFFE (1764 - 1823)

Chapter 05

A Sicilian Romance

A Sicilian Romance is a Gothic novel by Ann Radcliffe. It was her second published work, and was first published anonymously in 1790. The plot concerns the turbulent history of the fallen aristocrats of the house of Mazzini, on the northern shore of Sicily, as related by a tourist who becomes intrigued by the stories of a monk he meets in the ruins of their doomed castle.The introduction to the 'Worlds Classics' edition notes that in this novel "Ann Radcliffe began to forge the unique mixture of the psychology of terror and poetic description that would make her the great exemplar of the Gothic novel, and the idol of the Romantics". The novel explores the "cavernous landscapes and labyrinthine passages of Sicily's castles and convents to reveal the shameful secrets of its all-powerful aristocracy" (Summary from Wikipedia)


Listen next episodes of A Sicilian Romance:
Chapter 06 , Chapter 07 , Chapter 08 , Chapter 09 , Chapter 10 , Chapter 11 , Chapter 12 , Chapter 13 , Chapter 14 , Chapter 15 , Chapter 16