Uncle Silas (1864) is a macabre mystery novel and classic of gothic horror. Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu (1814 ù1873) was an Irish writer of Gothic tales and mystery novels. He was the premier ghost story writer of the nineteenth century. In his stories the supernatural explanation is implied, but there is always a remote but possible natural explanation. Maud Ruthyn, the heroine of this classic Victorian novel, recalls her fear of death, her moody father, the grotesque Madame de la Rougierre, and the suspicions surrounding her Uncle Silas. Uncle Silas is an extended adaptation of his earlier short story "Passage in the Secret History of an Irish Countess", with the locale switched from Ireland to England.