A Sicilian Romance (Revolution & Romanticism S., 1789-1834) (Penguin Classic Romance Thillers)

by Ann Radcliffe

A desolate castle hides a family's shameful secrets ...

On the rocky northern shores of Sicily stands a lonely castle, the home of the aristocratic Mazzini family. The marquis of Mazzini has remarried and gone away to live with his new wife, abandoning his two daughters - sweet-natured Emilia and lively, imaginative Julia - to wander the labyrinthine corridors alone. His only involvement with their lives is to arrange a marriage between Julia and the cruel Duke de Luovo, even though she loves another.

But that is not the end of Julia's troubles. Strange lights and unearthly groaning noises are coming from parts of the castle that have been locked up for years. Is it occupied by some terrible supernatural power? Or do even darker secrets lie within its depths?

• ISBN10: 0141191945
• ISBN13: 9780141191942
• Publish Date: 28 January 2010 (first published 1 April 1993)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 16 April 2021
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
• Imprint: Penguin Classics
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 256
• Language: English

Reviews

[celinenyx]

One of the earlier works of Ann Radcliffe, the literary giant who helped gain popularity for Gothic literature. A Sicilian Romance started off a bit slow for me, but when the plot really got going, and people were being abducted left and right, shoved into dungeons, hid in monasteries, and are presumed dead about every other chapter, I was hooked.

Although the women in A Sicilian Romance aren't your twenty-first century "kick-ass woman", I was glad to see female characters attempting to create their own happiness in a patriarchal world, as well as being central to the narrative.

I chose this novel by Radcliffe because of its modest length, but now I am quite confident to tackle her longer novels like The Mysteries of Udolpho or The Italian.

[Briana @ Pages Unbound]

Ann Radcliffe is one of those authors who seems to count as "classic" in large part because her work is historically important and not necessarily because it "stands the test of time." She's best known for launching the genre of the Gothic novel with The Mysteries of Udolpho, in the eighteenth century but her work overall tends to be predictable and melodramatic. I like reading it partially because I like to laugh at it, which is certainly not the effect Radcliffe was going for. A Sicilian Romance was no exception.

The book has all the elements one might like in a Gothic novel: castles, ghosts, brigands, underground crypts, dashing lovers, duels.  The problem is that all the elements that make Radcliffe's work recognizable also make it predictable.  One can routinely guess what's going to happen in any given scene, or even what's going to happen 100 pages in the future. It ruins a lot of the supposed "suspense" and creepiness factor.

However, the story is so over-the-top that I kind of can't help but enjoy it, even when it's slow or eye roll-inducing.  The ridiculousness and unlikeliness of it all is both familiar and entertaining.  And, for this novel, Radcliffe got so ridiculous that I actually didn't see part of the end coming--though I probably should have.

I don't think Radcliffe is a master writer by any stretch of the imagination. Her distinction is largely that she did something first rather than that she did it well.  However, I get enough enjoyment from reading her books that I will probably continue to pick up her work.