Uncle Silas

Written by Sheridan Le Fanu

Narrated by B. J. Harrison

Mystery surrounds Maud Ruthyn in this quintessential Gothic Novel. Her melancholy father forbids her to ask or inquire anything concerning his misfortunate brother - Silas. From what she can gather, Silas was once a handsome, ambitious young man, but in his later years, he shrank into obscurity. Why? And why is Maud's governess, Madame de la Rougerre, so curious about her father's will? Why is she so cruel? And how will Maude ever find answers from the enigmatic characters that surround her in the spectral castle of Bartram-Hough?

• Language: English
• Publisher: B.J. Harrison
• Release date: Jan 1, 2011
• ISBN: 9781937091941

Sheridan Le Fanu

J. Sheridan Le Fanu (1814–1873) was an Irish writer who helped develop the ghost story genre in the nineteenth century. Born to a family of writers, Le Fanu released his first works in 1838 in Dublin University Magazine, which he would go on to edit and publish in 1861. Some of Le Fanu’s most famous Victorian Gothic works include Carmilla, Uncle Silas, and In a Glass Darkly. His writing has inspired other great authors of horror and thriller literature such as Bram Stoker and M. R. James.

Reviews for Uncle Silas

[rainpebble_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Uncle Silas by J. Sheridan Le Fanu; {acquired prior to L/T}; (5*)Uncle Silas is both J. Sheridan Le Fanu's greatest novel and also his most celebrated and widely known which is a rare combination. It is a thorough reworking of the Radcliffean mode and of the Female Gothic in general, but it is also something entirely fresh, at least for a novel published in 1864, concerning as it does elements as diverse as Swedenborgian mysticism, Collins-esque sensationalism, and .. a rarity for its time and genre the first person retrospective narration of a young female protagonist. A classic work of 19th century Gothic, it is also generally considered one of the first examples of the 'locked room mystery' and it contains many motifs that have now become common stock of detective fiction and of the mystery genre in general.Written with the kind of lush and yet curiously straight forward prose that characterizes all of Le Fanu's fictionUncle Silas concerns for the most part three extremely well written characters. The first, its titular hero/villain is an impressive revision of the Byronic hero in all its complexity of characterization and is one of the most successful of these 'stock types' in all of Gothic literature; the second our narrator Maud Ruthyn is fleshed out to a degree that is much more three dimensional than the typical 'Emily St Aubert' of most of these kinds of fictions; and the third and perhaps most remarkable of Uncle Silas's cast, is the insidious, revolting and utterly outrageous Madame de la Rougierre who is worth the price in and of herself. With these characters Le Fanu takes the familiar mechanisms of the gothic novel and twists and turns them about into fabulously crisp and colorful new shapes that are as enjoyable and darkly fascinating today as they were to Victorian audiences one hundred and fifty years ago.The plot itself concerns the isolation of our young protagonist at the decaying rural estate of her rumour haunted Uncle Silas after the death of her father. She may or may not be the target of a plot that is still capable of chilling the blood. Silas whose decades old association with a ghastly crime which he may or may not have committed and which continues to plague him has been entrusted with Maud's guardianship. It becomes apparent however that this circumstance contains more of self interest than devotion to his late brother. Madame de la Rougierre whose early appearance in the novel is interrupted by the shift in action from Maud's ancestral home to Silas's Bartram Haugh reappears as the novel begins to plunge towards its shockingly violent climax and brings with her a final word on the mysteries of Uncle Silas and its brilliant compelling expansion of Mrs. Radcliffe's tropes. I won't reveal much more in the way of story but Le Fanu is successful in that many times we can see exactly where Uncle Silas is heading and yet we are still surprised with exactly where we have wound up.Of all the foundational works of the gothic, Uncle Silas remains one of the most accessible for modern audiences and one of the most intriguing. One can see its influence on everything from The Turn of the Screw to Rebecca and it is perhaps fitting that Le Fanu's greatest novel is a variation on a theme and on an entire genre and has itself been reimagined and reworked by modern practitioners of the Gothic tale to this very day.

[majesdane-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This took a long time to finish, but it is a long book. And one that you certainly have to be in a specific mindset to read; like any good Victorian gothic, the plot is complex and the journey winding. But it's still entertaining.

(An aside: I refuse to believe this book wasn't at least partial inspiration for Sarah Waters' "Fingersmith".)

[leslie398 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I don't know why the Guardian's list of 1000 Novels has this book under 'Science Fiction and Fantasy'. There is nothing fantastical about it - it would more properly be described as a Gothic horror story, though the horror is very Victorian (not at all like the gruesome modern day horror stories). I would call it a suspense.The atmosphere of terror and the plots laid for Maud Ruthyns, the heroine narrator, were very well done but Maud herself annoyed me. She was constantly referring to her timid nature which led her into some behaviors that were - to her - silly. That was okay - not my preference for a heroine but acceptable. It was her obstinate holding to the conviction that her Uncle Silas was a good man despite the history, the hints and worries from others, and even his own actions towards her that annoyed. Even after he had connived with Madame to separate her from her trusted maid Mary Quince and have her brought back to Bartram-Haugh secretly in the middle of the night and locked into a room with barred windows, she still believed that it was all Madame and her Uncle Silas would save her! If it wasn't for that, I would have given this 4*.

[burritapal · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this ancient book; it has real moments of terror in it, and keeps you guessing until the very end.

[yarb_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Hoariest tale I’ve read in quite a while. It takes forever to even introduce the titular uncle, and the hints of the supernatural turn out to be damp squibs. It does however have one hell of an antagonist in the galumphing brandy-snorting manipulative yet somehow pathetic French governess Madame de la Rougierre.

[pgmcc · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Uncle Silas by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu 1864I enjoyed Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s novel, "Uncle Silas". It is not unlike a Dickens novel with people finding themselves in difficult times and encountering people of ill intent. This book is narrated by the main character, Maud Ruthyn, a young lady from a wealthy background living in a big house. Her mother at this character’s birth, and her father has become socially reclusive, and cannot communicate with his daughter very well.There is, of course, an uncle, Uncle Silas, about whom there are many strange tales. She has never met this uncle and her father forbids discussion of his brother. There is a painting of Uncle Silas in the hall in Maud’s family home. She finds the person in the painting handsome and over the years she has thought a lot about what he is like. She eventually hears of a scandal and rumours that distanced Uncle Silas from Society, and the only person who defends Silas is her father, Austin Ruthyn. The novel is written as an account authored by Maud telling of her life and the troubles that affected her life and caused her misfortune and terror.This was a very enjoyable read. It moves along at a good pace, introduces intriguing characters, sets enough options and hints to keep the reader guessing about how the story will develop and where it will lead.Would I read another story by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu?Most definitely. Would you recommend this book to other people?Yes!What sort of person would I recommend it to?Anyone interested in mysteries with a Gothic or Dickensian feel to them.Did this book inspire me to do anything in particular?I am inspired to read more of Le Fanu’s work.

[electrascaife · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Maud is a young heiress with a mysterious father and an even more mysterious uncle whom she's never met and who has a reputation as a reprobate and possible murderer. When her father dies, his will reveals that he wants his brother to have guardianship over Maud for the next two years until she comes of age and can come into her inheritance. The adults around her (her cousin and a doctor friend of her father) are seriously concerned about her safety, but she is willing - possibly more out of curiosity and naivete than anything else - to give her unseen uncle the benefit of the doubt. This turns out to be a foolish decision, of course, and she works to unravel the mystery of just what her uncle and his shady associates are up to before any harm can come to her.A romp of a gothic novel, complete with grotesquely evil characters, mysterious and nefarious dealings, and a heroine that you both love and want to shake some sense into at times. Definitely recommended if you like this sort of thing.

[kristelh_15 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Gothic, Victorian, horror story that is told in first person by the protagonist, a young girl named Maud and sole heir of the Ruthyn estate, besides her uncle and his progeny. Written in 1864. Ruthyn goes to live with her uncle at Bartram-Haugh, Derbyshire after her father's death. Uncle Silas reportedly was a rogue but is now changed and her father wished her to go to him, so she does. During her time with father she has a evil nanny who shows up again at Uncle Silas's. This novel has a well developed female characters and may have been influenced by Wilkie Collin's A Woman in White.

[john257hopper · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is 19th century Irish author Sheridan Le Fanu's most well known full length novel, a mystery and "sensation" novel sometimes compared to Wilkie Collins's Woman in White. I must say, though, I didn't think this was in the same class as the Collins classic. While there are some interesting scenes and characters and a reasonable air of mystery was built up around the title character, I thought the novel lacked colour and depth. For me, not really a patch on the author's novella Carmilla, the original vampire story that inspired Bram Stoker.

[pmtracy · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Maud Ruthyn, the narrator, is a young woman not quite of age. Early in the book, her father places her under the care of a devious governess, Madame de la Rougierre, with unknown motivations. Madame torments Maud and her father doesn't appear to believe her when she begs for help. He does eventually discover the treachery and dismisses Madame. Shortly afterwards, Maud's father dies and her Uncle Silas, a marginalized member of the family, is made her sole guardian at the protest of her cousin. Maud is warned to guard herself. "But take it that you happen to die, Miss, during your minority. We are all mortal, and there are three years and some months to go."

Maud is essentially imprisoned at Bartram-Haugh by her uncle and cut off from family and friends. Madame de la Rougierre reappears locked away in Silas' home and Maud is told she was commissioned to "take Maud to France." Because of the duplicitous nature of the characters, we're never quite sure if they intend Maud harm. A sense of alarm and foreboding is protracted through the entire story with the final resolution waiting for the last few pages.

This is a great example of gothic horror and plays heavily on the themes of imprisonment and mental illness. Maud even begins to question whether she is sane. The novel is very similar in feel to Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre but this book is more suspenseful as the reader is always waiting for the shoe to drop and an attempt to be made on Maud's life.

Le Fanu never fails to provide a creepy tale. This is now one of my favorites.

[.monkey.-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I've read Le Fanu before: I read the Carmilla novella a bunch of years ago, which wasn't bad but didn't bowl me over, and then last year read In a glass darkly, which also contains Carmilla, along with several other short stories. I was not overly impressed by this collection. In fact, I was rather underwhelmed by it. This guy was one of the three who inspired Dracula, one of the initial writers of the vampire story, he has a few that are still Big Deals ~160 years later, he is meant to be impressive, no?? But I was not. MR James, however, said that Uncle Silas was his masterpiece, and MR James is a man who knew what he was talking about. Uncle Silas did not disappoint. Uncle Silas was everything I could have wanted it to be. I was on the edge of my seat practically the whole time, wondering if this sweet, utterly naïve young girl would manage to ever stop being so dang gullible, and manage to come out on top. Because it is quite common for Gothic tales to end rather tragically, and, though I was much reminded of Jane Austen, what with the sweet young innocent utterly-naïve girl with the standard group of kind gentleman, playboy, and thug surrounding her, there was certainly no Jane Austen guarantee of going off happily into the sunset for poor young Maud! Who knew what the result would be?! I had trouble putting the book down by the time I hit halfway, and I was kept in eager anticipation until just about the very last page. This is certainly the Le Fanu that everyone should read!

[passion4reading_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Maud Ruthyn has led a secluded and sheltered life: living alone with her father at Knowl, she hasn't seen anything of the world or spent time in polite society, as an heiress with an ancient name and fortune should. On the death of her father she is sent to her uncle Silas in Derbyshire, who has taken on her guardianship until Maud becomes of age. From the first Maud finds her uncle strange and unsettling, and her stay at Bartram-Haugh will turn out to be far from happy.Hailed as classic of the Victorian Gothic, Uncle Silas was initially published in serial form, and it really shows: the writing is long and protracted, virtually eroding any tension that might otherwise have arisen, interesting plot twists are hinted at and then never again taken up, and there are plot holes one can drive a carriage through. The novel takes the shape of a memoir penned by an older Maud, as she reflects on her youth; Maud is very highly strung, being seemingly forever in a state of weeping, despair, horror or vexation – only occasionally does she show a little bit of spine and resolution – and for the most part I could have shaken her to get a grip on herself.Le Fanu describes two very different villains in the novel: Madame de la Rougierre, a rather vulgar and brash Frenchwoman who is engaged to be Maud's governess, and whose characterisation is so unsubtle it appears occasionally farcical, and the titular Uncle Silas, whose personality is described in such subtle terms that I often wondered what the fuss was about when Maud details an encounter with him which has left her frightened out of her wits. At no stage did I ever feel engaged with Maud's plight, hoping (in vain) that the narrative would take a turn for the better and plotting become more taut and tense – the style may have gone down well with Victorian readers but it left me completely cold.Reader, heed my advice and don't waste your time on this leftover of Victorian melodrama.

[overthemoon_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A frightening tale penned by Maud, a rich orphan left to the dastardly designs of her inscrutable Uncle Silas and a ghastly French governess, the scheming Madame de Rougierre. Just when you think things can't possibly get any worse, something even more nightmarish happens, right up to the rather short but satisfying dénouement. As Maud renders the speech of her uneducated cousins, the governess and the local yokels with their supposed accents, it is sometimes difficult to understand them without reading aloud, and occasionally she reports long stretches of direct speech that she couldn't possibly have overheard, but despite such clumsiness the book is spinechillingly suspenseful and very atmospheric. Wonderful illustrations throughout, including chapter tailpieces.

[bookmarque · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Hailed as an example of classic, high-gothic, Uncle Silas delivers.Orphaned heiress of very little brainIsolation and lonelinessCreepy house crumbling to bitsSinister uncle with mood swings and a drug habitVicious governess with malevolent intentionsMenacing relatives, servants and villagersOne true friendOver-the-top is hardly an adequate phrase to describe it. Locations, character descriptions, action, plot points and cryptic communications are laid on thick. Effectively for the most part though. The book fairly drips with dread, duplicity and damp. Maud, our heroine, is such a dolt that it’s hard to feel for her, but sometimes in the more subtle moments, you can. Women and girls were to totally shackled and smothered that it’s no wonder that Maud has no spine. People seem to be constantly belittling, insulting or patronizing her. A lot of it is done by other women, who, you think would know better, but they line right up with the men and keep women down. Even for the times, it’s a bit hard to take. Maud is a rag. She’s forever cowering or crying, having nightmares or vapors. When she’s not stamping her foot in vexation that is. And she has a lot to vex her. Raised by a single-father with religious obsessions, Maud has no brothers or sisters to keep her company and counts as friends her servant Mary Quince and her cousin Lady Knollys. When dad suddenly dies (is murdered?), she is shipped off to her Uncle Silas who is the black sheep of the family and has a reputation for violence (accused of murder, but never convicted). She’s managed to shed the evil-minded governess, Madame Rougierre, but of course she turns up again like the bad penny of yore. It’s pretty clear she’s part of a bigger scheme to part Maud from her fortune, but it’s shrouded in prolonged cloak-and-dagger so it’s difficult to see it clearly. Her presence amplifies the dread so much that it’s hard to look away. She’s brazen and gets away with everything so it adds to the aura of hopelessness.When action does ensue, it’s pretty great. Roadside assaults. Graveyard scares. Secret smiles. Stolen mail. Menacing villagers. Threatening would-be suitor. And finally, violent assault. Overall the effect is excellent although Le Fanu does lose his steam a bit in the middle and things drag. If it was just plot, villains and atmosphere, I’d rate this book very high, but unfortunately Maud and the way a lot of people treated her, got on my nerves. Virtually everyone apart from the servants calls her a fool, repeatedly. It’s the only insult they all could find I guess and since she basically is a fool, it seemed stupid to keep calling her that over and over and over. Very grating. And Maud’s constant simpering, cowering and fainting became too repetitive to be effective. Some editing could go a long way, but if you like high gothic, it’s worth cracking open.

[jessiejluna · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of the creepiest books I've ever read-true horror.

[michellech_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

At first I wasn't that interested in where the storyline was taking me. Maud the innocent daughter of Austin Ruthyn has a nutty French governess with ulterior motives. And of course there is a will and lots of land with money. But when Austin dies suddenly and Maud is sent to live with her Uncle Silas the story begins to really gather steam. We find out that Silas has been implicated in the past for murder, and his behavior and family are incredibly odd.There house is remote and every character around is the strangest that can be imagined. So what is a Victorian innocent such as Maud to do? Her lack of power and resources as a ward of Uncle Silas makes for a twisty, suspenseful story.

[bunwat_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It was fun for me to get an idea of what an actual thrills and chills gothic novel was like, to understand what Austen was parodying in Northanger Abbey and what all those girls who get criticised for reading novels instead of improving their minds with collections of sermons were probably reading to one another.

Its a pretty interesting story too, with a fair number of thrills, although the middle section lags badly and the heroine is yet another of those annoying fool women who run around helplessly fluttering when confronted with danger. Perhaps one of the originals on which so many many more will be based.

If you have the patience for Victorian longwindedness and a lot of fainting, handwringing and general learned helplessness, there is some fun to be had here.

[atimco-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Uncle Silas, published in 1864, is the story of a young heiress whose fortune proves almost her undoing. Maud Ruthyn has lived a very solitary life at the family estate in Derbyshire, where her father, widower Austin Ruthyn, has withdrawn from the world after the scandal of his brother Silas's wild life. Though it could never be proved, a murder accusation clings to Silas and the Ruthyn name, and Austin feels it acutely. As a final testament to his belief in his brother's innocence, Austin writes a will that leaves his daughter Maud in Silas's care — and if she dies, the inheritance will be Silas's. Her living to claim her inheritance at age twenty-one would, Austin thought, show the world the falseness of Silas's guilt. Devotees of Victorian Gothic literature will be able to trace the story's lineaments from here. Is Silas guilty of that old crime? What are his plans for Maud? What is this net of deception and maneuverings slowly closing in around her?Swedenborgian doctrine, to which Maud's father adheres, provides much of the backdrop to set the atmosphere. Emanuel Swedenborg was a mystic who professed an affiliation with Christianity. In his view, after death one's spirit would undergo the same events that happened in its life, but this time one's real thoughts and motivations would be revealed. It is, as far as I can gather, a testing of sorts. There is great emphasis on the spirit world and the presence of ghosts. Apparently the recently dead may not know they are dead, and may even unwittingly fool the living. Maud says that far from contradicting Christianity, Swedenborgian ideas complement it, but I cannot agree.Maud, who narrates the story, is not a strong or assertive heroine, but nor is she utterly spineless. Yes, she faints occasionally; yes, she is naive and foolish; yes, she allows herself to be trampled by people of greater cunning and presence. But there are other occasions where she, galvanized by anger or indignation, acts with great firmness and decision. I found her rather likeable for all her weakness; she seemed more like a real person than the cardboard cutout "strong female character" so popular today. W. J. McCormack describes her strikingly in the introduction: "both impotent and prized in her society; powerless to determine events and yet the centre of attention, starlet of a fictional ascendancy" (xix).The other characters are similarly memorable. Madame de la Rougierre could have been a creation of Wilkie Collins in a particularly crazed and obnoxious mood. She can be summed up in one word: grotesque. As Maud's governess, Madame is deep in the plots surrounding Maud, but she is oh-so-oily and plausible that everyone believes her instead of Maud. Juxtaposed to Madame is Maud's cousin Monica Knollys, a warm, friendly woman who tries to prevent Maud from being sent to Silas's house as his ward.I was a little disappointed in Uncle Silas; it seemed clear to me from the outset that yes, he murdered Mr. Charke, and no, the repentance of his later years for a wild and misspent youth was not genuine, even if he wished it to be. As a result, his character appeared much less complex and interesting to me. But perhaps he didn't have a fair chance to fool me; uncles of rich heiresses in such novels as these are never good guys, and I've read enough of them to know.Le Fanu did not care for the novel to be called a "thriller," at least not in the sense the word was used in his time. In the foreword he notes that few people would call Sir Walter Scott's romances thrillers, though they employ many of the same plot devices (death, crime, and mystery). Though there are chills and thrills aplenty here, Le Fanu is doing more than just trying to entertain us with ghastly suspense. McCormack's introduction has a lot to say about the novel as a piece of deception and dualism set in Le Fanu's Anglo-Irish world and no doubt he makes some excellent observations that would help me tremendously if I were writing an academic paper on this novel — but I experienced something a little more immediate than that. It is this: the instability of life, our helplessness in the march of circumstance, and the quiet terror of not being able to trust the people around you. Whatever his context and the symbols he used that influenced Yeats and Joyce, Le Fanu succeeds on this basic emotional level and that is why I enjoyed this story.Le Fanu seems a cross between Wilkie Collins and Ann Radcliffe (the latter of whom he references by name here, in a half-respectful, half-humorous way). Though I was not very impressed with the first Le Fanu novel I read, The Wyvern Mystery, I found Uncle Silas to be a much stronger and more engaging read that leads me to look for more of his work.

[jbd1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I've been reading and listening to much related to M.R. James recently, and one of the things that frequently comes up is James' enjoyment of J. Sheridan Le Fanu's works, so naturally I had to seek those out as well! The first I chose was Uncle Silas (originally published 1864; I read the Penguin Classics edition, edited by Victor Sage). This may be the first Le Fanu book I picked up, but it certainly won't be the last. This is a darkly suspenseful tale drawing on the grand Gothic tradition of Ann Radcliffe while incorporating contemporary concerns about Swedenborgian thought and the sensationalistic style popularized by Wilkie Collins.With a cast of endlessly fascinating characters, from the innocent narrator Maud Ruthyn to the mysterious Uncle Silas to bumptious cousin Milly and detestable Madame de la Rougierre, plus pacing that serves to draw in the reader and make you want more with every passing chapter as the story builds toward the inevitable height, this was a real treat. Locked-room murders, evil governesses, romantic intrigues, creepy old houses populated by ghosts ... Le Fanu's story uses all these and more, to grand effect.

[veilofisis · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Uncle Silas is both J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s best novel and also his most widely known—which is a rare combination indeed. It is a thorough reworking of the Radcliffean mode and of the Female Gothic in general, but it is also something entirely fresh (at least, for a novel published in 1864), concerning as it does elements as diverse as Swedenborgian philosophy, Collins-esque sensationalism, and—a relative rarity for its time and genre—the first-person, retrospective narration of a young, female protagonist. A classic work of 19th century Gothic, it is also generally considered one of the first examples of the ‘locked room mystery:’ and it contains many motifs that have now become common stock of detective fiction and of the mystery genre in general. Written with the kind of lush and yet curiously straight-forward prose that characterizes all of Le Fanu’s fiction, Uncle Silas concerns three extraordinarily well-written characters: the first, its titular hero-villain, is a glorious revision of the Byronic hero in all its complexity of characterization and is one of the most successful of these ‘stock types’ in all of Gothic fiction; the second, our narrator Maud Ruthyn, is fleshed out with all of the nuance her first-person narration is capable of bringing to the table; and the third, and perhaps most remarkable of Uncle Silas’s cast, is the insidious, revolting, and utterly outrageous Madame de la Rougierre, who is worth the price of admission in and of herself. With these three characters, Le Fanu has taken the familiar mechanisms of the Gothic novel and twisted and turned them about into fabulously crisp and colorful new shapes that are as enjoyable and darkly fascinating today as they were to Victorian audiences one hundred and fifty years ago.The plot itself concerns the isolation of our young protagonist at the decaying rural estate of her rumour-haunted Uncle Silas after the death of her father, where she may or may not be the target of a plot that is still capable of chilling the blood. Silas, whose decades-old association with a ghastly crime which he may or may not have committed and which continues to plague him, has been entrusted with Maud’s guardianship; it becomes apparent, however, that this circumstance contains more of self-interest than devotion to his late brother. Madame de la Rougierre, whose early appearance in the novel is interrupted by the shift in action from Maud’s ancestral home to Silas’s mini-Udolpho, Bartram-Haugh, reappears as the novel begins to plunge towards its shockingly violent climax and brings with her a final word on the mysteries of Uncle Silas and its strange and brilliant characterizations. I won’t reveal much more, but Le Fanu is successful in that many times we can see exactly where Uncle Silas is heading, and yet still we are surprised with exactly where we have wound up.I suggest reading some of Mrs. Radcliffe’s fiction before taking on Uncle Silas, for context: though the trappings used to such success in Le Fanu's novel are so common and pervasive in Gothic fiction that one is probably aware of them without ever even having experienced them first hand: the dark mansion posing as a haunted castle and full of enigmas to be sorted through, a persecuted young woman and a scheming male anti-hero, the vicious foreigner, the vague and shadowed suggestions of a dubious ‘supernatural:’ these are the hallways, crypts, and secret passageways through which Le Fanu plods through with adept, if foggy, reimagining. His subtle insertion of Swedenborgian axioms and the metaphysics with which they are entangled lends a unique cast to his storytelling that is distinctly Le Fanu in its breadth of consideration.Of all the foundational works of the Gothic, Uncle Silas remains one of the most readable for modern audiences and one of the most intriguing. One can see its influence on everything from The Turn of the Screw to Rebecca and beyond, and it is perhaps fitting: Le Fanu’s best novel is a variation on a theme and on an entire genre, and has itself been reimagined and reworked by modern practitioners of the Gothic school to this very day. Like Radcliffe’s Udolpho, it has been seized by its devotees and projected onto new sets of characters and ideas that continually expand the borders of the Gothic imagination while remaining firmly linked to a central conception and credo.

[litfan_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was the first I'd read of Le Fanu's work and I'll definitely be coming back for more. This is the deliciously slow-building tale of a wealthy, bereaved daughter placed in the guardianship of her uncle Silas, who has a shady past. She leaves her home to join him at Bartram; a series of increasingly creepy happenings and coincidences ratchet up the suspense. Our heroine begins to alternately fear that a dark conspiracy is afoot, or that she is slowly losing her mind. This is classic Gothic at its best; it manages to deliver more shivers and starts during one conversation than today's horror movies do in the entire sitting. I couldn't put it down and found myself holding my breath during the nail-biting conclusion.

[irenef_288826 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Uncle Silas is a satisfying Victorian mystery with creepy gothic overtones and a thrilling denoument. As with others of this genre you must leave your sense of disbelief behind. The tale is narrated by Maud, the teenage heiress to a large fortune, who has grown up living with her emotionally distant father in an ancient mansion, complete with ghosts; the obligatory evil governess arrives posthaste and makes life miserable for our heroine. Madame gets the boot after she is discovered rifling through Papa's desk, but Maud's life soon takes a turn for the worse when Papa suffers a ruptured aortic aneurysm. Suddenly orphaned, Maud is sent to live with mysterious Uncle Silas, who has lived Under A Cloud since a gambler apparently slit his own throat while staying with him many years previously. The visitor's room was locked from the inside--hence the term "locked room mystery"--but Silas has been shunned by Society ever since.Initially life goes well for Maud; she feels her father wishes her to clear the family name. She civilizes Silas' awkward daughter Milly but finds her other cousin, Dudley, to be a boor and a nuisance, especially after he starts mooning about and declaring his love for her. The servants are nearly universally malevolent, and Maud starts receiving warnings from various quarters as how Things Are Not As They Seem and she should watch her back. Silas' catatonic fits increase--due to overuse of opium, claims the doctor--Madame shows up, and Maud finds herself not only isolated but trapped. As you might expect, things go from bad to worse and then much worse, but never fear, all is put right in the end.I read the Project Gutenburg edition on my iPhone. Because I couldn't read ahead I found I was deeply involved in the story and finished it in about three sittings. While a fine example of its kind, Uncle Silas does not exceed the limitations of genre, and certain loose ends are left hanging.

[pamelad_570511 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Leisurely horror story, first published in 1864. Uncle Silas doesn't appear in the flesh until page 200, but we know his story by then. The younger son of an ancient family, the dissolute Silas gambled away his inheritance. A gambler and money lender was found with his throat cut and Silas was accused of his death.The heroine is the daughter of Silas's older brother Austin, the eccentric and reclusive heir to the family fortune. Austin has always believed in his brother's innocence and stakes his daughter's future on proving it.An early psychological novel and possibly the first locked room mystery, Uncle Silas is an entertaining and interesting read.

[bcquinnsmom · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Probably my favorite of all of the Le Fanu novels. I first got interested in this author when, many years back, I saw this dramatized on PBS. Peter O'Toole played a very evil Uncle Silas.Another Victorian gothic involving not so nice relatives, an evil governess and a damsel in distress. HIGHLY recommended!