A Sicilian Romance

A Sicilian Romance (1790) is a novel by Ann Radcliffe. Published anonymously, Radcliffe’s second novel is a tragic story of love and murder set in the sublime landscape of the Sicilian coast. Considered an essential work of Gothic fiction, A Sicilian Romance is an early example of her prowess as a leading novelist of suspense and the supernatural. “As I walked over the loose fragments of stone, […] I recurred, by a natural association of ideas, to the times when these walls stood proudly in their original splendour, when the halls were the scenes of hospitality and festive magnificence, and when they resounded with the voices of those whom death had long since swept from the earth.” A young tourist wanders through the ruins of an ancient castle. A local friar approaches and, noticing the foreigner’s curiosity, reveals to him the story of the Mazzini family, whose misfortune it was to possess wealth and power at the expense of morality. Possessive and cruel, the Marquis Mazzini seeks to control his daughters’ lives by forcing them to marry the men of his choosing. When Julia falls in love with an Italian count, he commands her to take the hand of the Duke de Luovo. Although she assents, Julia secretly plans to flee the castle with her lover, setting in motion a tale of terror and betrayal. This edition of Ann Radcliffe’s A Sicilian Romance is a classic of English literature reimagined for modern readers.

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