The Old English Baron

'Though I have been dead these fifteen years, I still command here, andnone can enter these gates without my permission.'When Sir Philip Harclay returns to England after a long absence, he finds thathis childhood friend, Arthur,Lord Lovel, is no longer alive, and that the castleand estates of the Lovel family have twice changed hands. But a mysteriouslyabandoned set of rooms in the castle of Lovel promises to disclose the secretsof the past. After a series of frantic episodes and surprising revelations,culminating in a trial by combat, the crimes of the usurper and the legitimacyof the true heir are finally discovered.'The literary offspring of the castle of Otranto', as Reeve described it, TheOld English Baron provides an ambitious rewriting of Horace Walpole'sgroundbreaking work, transporting the trappings of the Gothic to medievalEngland. Innovative and original in its day, Reeve's historical romance isincreasingly recognized as a major influence on the development of Gothicfiction.