The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne

About This Book

Published in 1789, The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne is the first novel by Ann Radcliffe (1764–1823), the writer who would become the most popular novelist of the 1790s and the acknowledged master of Gothic fiction. Set in the Scottish Highlands, it tells the story of Osbert, a young earl who must avenge his murdered father by attacking the rival Baron Malcolm in his fortress of Dunbayne, while his sister Mary becomes entangled in a romance with an imprisoned stranger of mysterious origins. Though Radcliffe would far surpass this debut with The Mysteries of Udolpho and The Italian, The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne already displays her gift for atmospheric landscape and suspenseful plotting. The novel is in the public domain.

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