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The Castle of Ollada
"The sound approached towards him -- the chains rattled vehemently; scarcely had he sprung from his chair, and seized his sword, ere the door flew open, and a spectre, whose arms and legs were fastened with heavy chains, with a naked body covered with wounds, from which the blood still seemed to gush, with clotted hair and eyes dripping with blood, rendered visible by a flame which burnt on the crown of its head, replete with purple gashes, stood before him." In The Castle of Ollada , the first novel by Gothic master Francis Lathom, young Altador seeks to solve the mystery of the Castle of Ollada and win the love of the beautiful Matilda. Why does the Baron Garcia refuse to inhabit the ancient castle? And what is the bloody spectre that has been witnessed haunting its ruined halls? An immediate success when first published in 1795, The Castle of Ollada was the first novel by celebrated Gothic writer Francis Lathom, who wrote it at age 20. Inspired by Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto and the novels of Ann Radcliffe, The Castle of Ollada will captivate modern readers with its gloomy atmosphere and dark Gothic mysteries. This edition includes the complete unabridged text, based on the second edition of 1831, as well as a foreword and notes for modern readers. The complete text of two contemporary reviews is also included to illustrate the novel's reception when originally published.
164 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1795
90 people want to read
About the author
Francis Lathom
82 books10 followersFrancis Lathom (1774-1832) was born in July 1774 at Rotterdam to Henry and Sarah Lathom. Henry Lathom was a Norwich merchant engaged in business with the East India Company in Holland. Around 1777, the family returned to the vicinity of Norwich, and in the 1790s Lathom began to pen plays for the Theatre Royal Norwich, including the comedies All in a Bustle (1795) and The Dash of the Day (1800), the latter of which was acted to “universal applause” and ran into at least four editions. In 1795, Lathom published his first novel, The Castle of Ollada, a Gothic romance indebted to Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) and Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto (1764).
In 1797, Lathom married Diana Ganning, daughter of Daniel Ganning, a wealthy lawyer and landowner, with whom he had three children, Henry Daniel (b. 1799), Frederick (b. 1800), and Jessy Ann (b. 1803). The following year, he published what became his most famous novel, The Midnight Bell (1798), which was mentioned in Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey (1818) and which was the only of Lathom’s novels reprinted in the 20th century. He followed this success with the satire Men and Manners (1799), described by critic Montague Summers as Lathom’s masterpiece and worthy of a young Dickens, and Mystery (1800), a curious mixture of the Gothic with epistolary domestic romance.
Around 1802 or 1803, under circumstances not yet known, Lathom left Norwich, perhaps for Scotland. Lathom’s father’s will provided him an annuity of £200 per year, provided that he relinquish custody of his children to Diana and have nothing more to do with them. Summers posited that Lathom’s removal from Norwich may have stemmed from a gay love affair, which, while not substantiated, may nonetheless be true.
Between 1802 and 1809, Lathom was extremely prolific, publishing the novels Astonishment!!! (1802), The Impenetrable Secret, Find it Out! (1805), The Mysterious Freebooter (1806), Human Beings (1807), The Fatal Vow (1807), The Unknown (1808), London, or, Truth Without Treason (1809), and The Romance of the Hebrides, or, Wonders Never Cease (1809). After 1809, he disappeared from the publishing scene and apparently travelled to America, where he visited New York and lived for a time in Philadelphia.
In 1820, Lathom returned to publishing, releasing Italian Mysteries and the collection The One-Pound Note and Other Tales. He continued to write throughout the remainder of the decade; these later works include Live and Learn (1823), in which the friendship between the two male characters was felt by Summers to be “clearly” queer in nature, as well as two additional collections of short stories and the novels Young John Bull (1828) and Mystic Events (1830). Lathom is said to have died in Fyvie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland in 1832.
-Valancourt Books
In 1797, Lathom married Diana Ganning, daughter of Daniel Ganning, a wealthy lawyer and landowner, with whom he had three children, Henry Daniel (b. 1799), Frederick (b. 1800), and Jessy Ann (b. 1803). The following year, he published what became his most famous novel, The Midnight Bell (1798), which was mentioned in Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey (1818) and which was the only of Lathom’s novels reprinted in the 20th century. He followed this success with the satire Men and Manners (1799), described by critic Montague Summers as Lathom’s masterpiece and worthy of a young Dickens, and Mystery (1800), a curious mixture of the Gothic with epistolary domestic romance.
Around 1802 or 1803, under circumstances not yet known, Lathom left Norwich, perhaps for Scotland. Lathom’s father’s will provided him an annuity of £200 per year, provided that he relinquish custody of his children to Diana and have nothing more to do with them. Summers posited that Lathom’s removal from Norwich may have stemmed from a gay love affair, which, while not substantiated, may nonetheless be true.
Between 1802 and 1809, Lathom was extremely prolific, publishing the novels Astonishment!!! (1802), The Impenetrable Secret, Find it Out! (1805), The Mysterious Freebooter (1806), Human Beings (1807), The Fatal Vow (1807), The Unknown (1808), London, or, Truth Without Treason (1809), and The Romance of the Hebrides, or, Wonders Never Cease (1809). After 1809, he disappeared from the publishing scene and apparently travelled to America, where he visited New York and lived for a time in Philadelphia.
In 1820, Lathom returned to publishing, releasing Italian Mysteries and the collection The One-Pound Note and Other Tales. He continued to write throughout the remainder of the decade; these later works include Live and Learn (1823), in which the friendship between the two male characters was felt by Summers to be “clearly” queer in nature, as well as two additional collections of short stories and the novels Young John Bull (1828) and Mystic Events (1830). Lathom is said to have died in Fyvie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland in 1832.
-Valancourt Books
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 20, 2017
A very good and very typical first Gothic. I really enjoyed reading it. I give it four stars instead of five, just because there are classic Gothic novels which are immensely superb, so although this one is a very good book, it doesn´t reach the level of the absolute masterpieces of the genre and the period.
March 4, 2014
This really wasn't too bad. Sure, there are a lot of borrowed ideas within the story, but it proved to be an adequately entertaining read. Matilda, the lead female role, is an interesting character and proves herself to be stronger than you might expect from a novel of this era. As is somewhat typical, the castle has more of a history than an actual "set in the novel" place, a few events occur there, but it feels that the bulk of the book takes place elsewhere, with very minimal 'spooking', despite the cover image :P
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews