Malpertuis: The Classic Modern Gothic Novel

Malpertuis: The Classic Modern Gothic Novel by Ray, Jean. Paperback edition. ISBN: 9780947757984.

A manuscript stolen from a monastery, the ancient stone house of a sea-trading dynasty, which may be haunted. These are familiar ingredients for a Gothic novel, but something far more strange and disconcerting is taking place within the walls of Malpertuis as the relatives gather for the impending death of Uncle Cassave. The techniques of H. P. Lovecraft, when transplanted into the suffocating Catholic context of a Belgium scarred by the inquisition, produce in Jean Rays masterpiece a story of monumental intensity from which events of startling ferocity break the surface - without ever lessening the suspense of the tales approaching apocalyptic denouement.