Introduction

Introduced by Sarah Perry, the best-selling author of The Essex Serpent.

Uncanny. Mysterious. Eerie. Gothic.

It draws us in with its air of mystery and repels us with its violence and darkness.

But who were the first practitioners of the now-prevalent genre?

This curated book collects the works of such masters as Edgar Allan Poe, Christina Rossetti and Mary Shelley, who with flickering candles, mysterious castles and chilling ravens first frightened and delighted readers.

With a brilliantly insightful introduction by Sarah Perry, the contemporary master of the gothic genre, this book will immerse and entangle you in the roots of the gothic. Just be careful not to get lost.