'Though I have been dead these fifteen years, I still
command here, and none can enter these gates without my
permission.' When Sir Philip Harclay returns to England
after a long absence, he finds that his childhood
friend, Arthur, Lord Lovel, is no longer alive, and that
the castle and estates of the Lovel family have twice
changed hands. But a mysteriously abandoned set of rooms
in the castle of Lovel promises to disclose the secrets
of the past. After a series of frantic episodes and
surprising revelations, culminating in a trial by
combat, the crimes of the usurper and the legitimacy of
the true heir are finally discovered. 'The literary
offspring of the castle of Otranto', as Reeve described
it, The Old English Baron provides an ambitious
rewriting of Horace Walpole's groundbreaking work,
transporting the trappings of the Gothic to medieval
England. Innovative and original in its day, Reeve's
historical romance is increasingly recognized as a major
influence on the development of Gothic fiction. ABOUT
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