Frank H. (perryfran) reviewed on 11/20/2010 + 1181 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 2

This is probably one of the prime examples of Victorian melodrama. To me, the novel kind of dragged but throughout the story there is a feeling of dread and foreboding. The heroine, Maud Ruthyn, has been placed in the care of the titular Uncle Silas, who has a dark past and may have committed a murder to resolve some of his debts. He is a former gambler and rogue not to mention an opium (laudanum) addict. Along with his son, Dudley, and the evil Madame De La Rougierre, it appears that Uncle Silas is plotting to get Maud's inherited riches. Or could Maud be imagining it all? This reminded me a lot of novels by the Brontës including Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. I would give this a mild recommendation but don't expect a fast paced novel like today's standards.

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