Cover of The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole Audiobook The Castle of Otranto
Audiobook · Urban Romantics

The Castle of Otranto

Author
Horace Walpole
Read by
Eloise Fairfax
Language
English
Length
3 hours 32 minutes
ISBN
9781802564006
Published
17 March 2025
Imprint
Urban Romantics
  • gothic
  • gothic novel
  • prophecy
  • relationship
  • family
  • marriage
  • British novel

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Description

Conrad is crushed to death on his wedding day by a gigantic helmet that falls on him from above. Manfred, lord of the castle, terrified that his son's death signals the beginning of the end for his line, resolves to avert destruction by re-marrying himself while divorcing his current wife Hippolita, who he feels has failed to bear him a proper heir.

Author

Horace Walpole (1717–1797), son of Sir Robert Walpole, went to Eton and King's College, Cambridge, and built Strawberry Hill as a Gothic toy that became a style. The Castle of Otranto put a giant helmet on English fiction and invented a taste: vaults, lineage, a past that will not stay buried. Historic Doubts on the Life and Reign of King Richard the Third shows the same restless elegance on history. Wit, in a haunted corridor.

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