LeFanu, Joseph. Sherdan. Perhaps no other writer in the history of English fiction co completely mastered the technique of creating an atmosphere of unrelieved suspense and terror as Joseph Sheridan LeFanu (1814-1873).

Death prowls the 400-odd pages of this book - in Maud Ruthyn, her father Austin, the grotesque Madame de la Rougierre, in the shadowy suspicion that surrounds Uncle Silas, in the chilly atmosphere at Knowl and the even more haunting terror pervading Bartram-Haugh, in the gloomy night-thoughts and somber reflections about death that occur and reoccur. With consummate skill, LeFanu has truly captured the secred fears and dreads that grip us all. Softcover, 436 pages.