Uncle Silas

First published in 1864, this novel is narrated by Maud Ruthyn, a young heiress raised at Knowl under her Swedenborgian father. After his death she is sent to Bartram-Haugh, the decaying Derbyshire house of her uncle Silas, a former rake and suspected murderer who now poses as a pious recluse. There she is watched by the coarse French governess Madame de la Rougierre and by Silas's children, while the terms of her father's will keep her in danger until she comes of age. The book is a locked-house sensation tale of guardianship and inheritance, not a ghost story in the supernatural sense.

Bound in dark green cloth with a gold design. Pale yellow slipcase.