Books with author J. S. Le Fanu

Before Dracula, there was Carmilla—the first seductive vampire to haunt readers’ imaginations This classic of Gothic horror follows Laura, a woman haunted by a girlhood dream of a beautiful visitor to her bedroom. Now, a decade later, Laura finds Carmilla, who appears to be her own age, on the side of the road after a carriage accident. The two recognize each other from the same childhood dream and become fast friends. Soon after, Laura begins to experience mysterious feelings and is once again haunted by nightmares. She finds Carmilla strangely irresistible and longs to be with her. But as the two friends grow closer, Laura’s health begins to fail. It becomes apparent that her enchanting companion is harboring a sinister secret. To free herself from Carmilla’s grasp, Laura and her family must fight for their lives. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.

"Uncle Silas" is J. Sheridan Le Fanu's classic gothic novel narrated by the teenage character Maud Ruthyn who lives with her reclusive father Austyn Ruthyn in their mansion at Knowl. From her father Maud comes to learn of her Uncle Silas, an infamous rake and gambler and the suspicious suicide of a man to whom Silas owes an enormous gambling death. Mystery surrounds this suicide as the man is found dead in a locked room. While Austyn is convinced of his brother's innocence Maud is not and when her father unexpectedly dies, she must go to live with her Uncle. As Maud suspects that Uncle Silas has designs on her inheritance she finds herself in a dreadful situation in which she fears for her life. "Uncle Silas" is a chilling psychological thriller that is considered by many as Le Fanu's best and most popular work.

Excerpt from The Wyvern Mystery, Vol. 1 of 3: A NovelIN the small breakfast parlour Of Oulton, a pretty girl, Miss Alice Maybe, with her furs and wrappers about her, and a journey Of forty miles before her - not by rail - to Wyvern, had stood up to hug and kiss her Old aunt, and bid her good-bye.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

The novel is a first person narrative told from the point of view of the teenaged Maud Ruthyn, an heiress living with her somber, reclusive father Austyn Ruthyn in their mansion at Knowl. She gradually becomes aware of the existence of Silas Ruthyn, a black sheep uncle whom she has never met, who was once an infamous rake and gambler but is now apparently a reformed Christian. Silas's past holds a dark mystery, which she gradually learns from her father and from her worldly, cheerful cousin Lady Monica: the suspicious suicide of a man to whom Silas owed an enormous gambling debt, which took place within a locked, apparently impenetrable room in Silas's mansion at Bartram-Haugh. Austyn is firmly convinced of his brother's innocence; Maud's attitude to Uncle Silas (whom we do not meet for the first 200 pages of the book) wavers repeatedly between trusting in her father's judgment, and growing fear and uncertainty.In the first part of the novel, Maud's father hires a French governess, Madame de la Rougierre, as a companion for her. Madame de la Rougierre, however, turns out to be a sinister figure who has designs on Maud. (In a cutaway scene that breaks the first-person narrative, we learn that she is in league with Uncle Silas's good-for-nothing son Dudley.) She is eventually discovered by Maud in the act of burgling her father's desk; this is enough to ensure that she is dismissed.Austyn Ruthyn obscurely asks Maud if she is willing to undergo some kind of "ordeal" to clear Silas's name. She assents, and shortly thereafter her father dies. It turns out that he has added a codicil to his will: Maud is to stay with Uncle Silas until she comes of age. If she dies while in her minority, the estate will go to Silas. Despite the best efforts of Lady Monica and Austyn's executor and fellow Swedenborgian, Dr. Bryerly, Maud is forced to spend the next three and a half years of her life at Bartram-Haugh.Life at Bartram-Haugh is initially strange but not unpleasant, despite ominous signs such as the uniformly unfriendly servants and a malevolent factotum of Silas's, the one-legged Dickon Hawkes. Silas himself is a sinister, soft-spoken man who is openly contemptuous of his two children, the loutish Dudley and the untutored but friendly Milly (her country ways initially amaze Maud, but they become best friends). Silas is subject to mysterious catatonic fits which are attributed by his doctor to his massive opium consumption. Gradually, however, the trap closes around Maud: it is clear that Silas is attempting to coax or force her to marry Dudley. When that plan fails, and as the time-limit of three-and-a-half years begins to shrink, it becomes clear that more violent methods may be used to ensure that Silas gains control of the Ruthyn estate....Includes a biography of the Author

Excerpt from The Wyvern Mystery, Vol. 3 of 3: A NovelHe held up three fingers as he named them, touching them in succession.That's a fire it's better should burn a bit too fiercely for an hour than sink too low for a second once out, out for ever.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from The Wyvern Mystery, Vol. 2 of 3: A NovelHe looked through the window towards the gloriously-stained sky and darkening trees, and he thought.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Before DRACULA came CARMILLA A Strange Agony. The exquisite and deadly vampire Carmilla haunts J. Sheridan LeFanu's influential novel. A Gothic tale of blood and terror, Carmilla inspired later classics by Bram Stoker and Robert Louis Stevenson, ever shadowed by a love that dare not say its name.Joseph 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".First published as a serial in The Dark Blue (1871–72), the story is narrated by a young woman preyed upon by a female vampire named Carmilla, later revealed to be Mircalla, Countess Karnstein (Carmilla is an anagram of Mircalla). The story is often anthologized and has been adapted many times in film and other media. Carmilla is the book that set the text for Dracula, that threw the light on our morbid fascination with the vampire legend.