The Italian by Ann Radcliffe

See my post on The Romance of the Forest by the same author. Set in Italy, The Italian is more of the same - classic Gothic romance, full of suspense, darkness, undying love, deathbed revelations, and amazing coincidences. The anti-Catholic attitudes of Radcliffe's time are even more evident in this novel. The good characters are extremely good, and the evil ones are purely evil. The hero, Vivaldi, is the son of two awful parents. Both are haughty, proud, cruel, and unloving. One is even murderous. Radcliffe makes no attempt at explaining how two such parents could have such a paragon of a son, but that's half the fun of this genre! Paulo was the most annoying character. His constant subservience and attestations of love for his master are nauseating. In this novel, the British attitudes towards social class are crystal clear. Paulo loves groveling at the feet of his master (literally!), Ellena won't marry into a family of higher rank if they don't want her, and some characters actually insist that trying to marry out of rank is a crime. Overall, this is an amusing book to read for the crazy plot, but it also illuminates the opinions and social climate of Radcliffe's day.