Uncle Silas

J. Sheridan LeFanu's Silas is the dark doppelganger to his brother Austin Ruthyn. When Austin dies and his daughter Maud is sent to live with her brooding uncle, the creeping, horrible nature of Silas' character unfolds. Addicted to laudanum and prey to inexplicable visions, Silas appears like a spirit to his neice Maud. Silas has his own plans for Maud and the fortune she will inherit. Uncle Silas is LeFanu's best-known novel, dealing with themes of spiritualism, secret corruption, greed, lust, and other peculiar Victorian obsessions. A classic novel of spiritual terror by one of the true masters of the form.