Rookwood

William Harrison Ainsworth

A typical gothic fantasy, Rookwood is a good read if you can stomach the songs, poetry, and flowery language. It features underground vaults, mummified corpses falling out of tombs, paranormal summonses, girls in great distress, a sinister gypsy old woman, adultery, death by lightning, and macabre prophecies.

The Lancashire Witches

William Harrison Ainsworth

The novel is based on the true story of the Pendle Witches, who were executed in 1612 for causing harm with witchcraft. Witches lived in the Pendley Hill area of Lancashire. This story will keep you in suspense until the very end.

The Leaguer of Lathom

William Harrison Ainsworth

This book is about the civil war in Lancashire. Like any war, this story cannot but leave impressions after itself. You will be immersed in history and characters.

The Misers Daughter

William Harrison Ainsworth

Randulph Crewe is an unusual name for a young hero. Hilda Scarve is the daughter of a titled miser. The denouement of the plot hinges on the making of wills and inheritance of property, and there is a secret love affair (between Randulphs uncle and Hildas mother) that comes from the past.

The Old London Merchant. A Sketch

William Harrison Ainsworth

At that festival time, when the days are the shortest and the nights the longest, and when, therefore, it is the invariable practice of all intelligent men to turn night into day; when the ratio of business and pleasure is clearly in favor of the latter; when a magnificent carnival is held in London, and everything testifies to the predominance and influence of good humor.

The Spectre Bride

William Harrison Ainsworth

This is a gothic classic. Very atmospheric. This amazing and attractive story, written in the highest times of our Faustian civilization, the majestic poetics of romanticism, and today, in these godforsaken times of fate and despair, shines with mysterious darkness.

The Star-Chamber

William Harrison Ainsworth

It is a good gothic thriller. Sir Giles Mompesson is a gloomy and all-powerful villain who sows destruction and suffering with the help of the Star Chamber court, it seems, just like that.

Windsor Castle. An Historical Romance

William Harrison Ainsworth

A classic historical novel set in and around Windsor Castle during the time of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Historical events are sharply aggravated by the appearance of the forest demon Hern the Hunter.