...and Malcolm Lowry sits half-read on a shelf. I appreciate him, but, for the moment, not to my taste.

SO - Ann Radcliffe - I'm pretty sure I've read "The Castle of Udolpho", this didn't disappoint. 

A Gothic Romance, with the usual variety of Star-crossed lovers, Ruined Castles, Estates, Monasteries, Convents and Dungeons (albeit poorly used...), caves, the rumor of ghosts, kindly governesses, evil fathers and stepmothers, Bandetti, convenient coincidences, mistaken identities, and the wrath of God plays out in the passions of the players. 

If she didn't invent the genre she certainly perfected it, the quality of prose is fine, only the events - the story, is just that, a diversion to entertain, and at no point does the reader believe it. But that's a matter of taste...

Read up on her here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Radcliffe

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