Julia Roseingrave

“I hear from Mrs Barlow, that your mother and your sister are both ill. You must, then, have very little company.” “Very little human company,” she replied.

On a moonlit night, a wearied traveler dressed as the Devil calls at the mossy gates of Holcot Grange. Fleeing some bloody misadventure in London, the stranger claims to be heir to the manor which for generations has remained lordless. But among its benighted tenants the enthralling beauty Julia Roseingrave has been waiting – and now her means of escape has arrived. As whispers of witchcraft echo through the grounds and the boundaries between lord and servant fray, a cursed romance begins to smolder – and the specter of death draws near.

First published in 1933, this historical novella of Gothic love returns to print alongside six deliciously dark short tales from the British Library vaults, bubbling with wickedness and the occult.

Marjorie Bowen (1885–1952) was the principal penname for Margaret Campbell de Vere Long, a prolific English author best known for her dark historical romances, strange and literary novels and weird short stories. She also wrote under the pseudonyms of ‘Joseph Shearing’, ‘Robert Paye’ and ‘George R. Preedy’. Describing herself as an ‘enchantress of dread’, her writing was highly regarded by contemporary critics and writers such as Graham Greene, who listed her as a chief influence.

Michael Dirda (born 1948) is an American book critic, working for the Washington Post. He has been a Fulbright Fellow and won a Pulitzer Prize in 1993.