I read this the first time as an undergraduate, and I wrote a paper on it, which landed me a speaking role in the undergraduate symposium. That is how much I love this book. It has everything: romance, mysticism, ghosts, murder, mystery... It's the first ever English Gothic novel written (around the late 1700's). It is a very well-written, very intense story of the shadows of Catholicism. If anyone wishes to borrow my copy, you will have to read around my notes, my brother's notes, and a friend's notes! We all disagree throughout the margins. We love allegory!