Noble and devout, Ambrosio is the abbot of a Spanish monastery and spends his days in prayer and preaching. However his monastery is harboring a malevolent force in the form of a young monk called Rosario. Rosario attaches himself to the abbot and then one fateful night reveals that he is in fact a [...]

Lust, sorcery and torture - the secrets of a Spanish monastery. Ambrosio, a pious monk, finds himself drawn to his pupil, Matilda, a young woman in disguise. Unable to control himself, he sates his lust, and soon tires of her. But Matilda has more than her body to offer: using black magic, she will [...]

Each of these four Gothic stories reveals a psychological tale of isolation and monomania. H. Walpole's 'The Castle of Otranto' is filled with terror and ghostly interventions. William Beckford's 'Vathek' alternates grotesque comedy with scenes of exotic magnificence. 'The Monk', by Matthew Lewis a[...]

Prepare to be shocked. This novel, written in 1796, is a Gothic festival of sex, magic and ghastly, ghostly violence rarely seen in literature. The Monk is remarkably modern in style and tells a breathless tale of temptation, imprisonment and betrayal. Matthew Lewis recounts the downfall of Ambrosio[...]

The main plot of the Gothic novel, 'The Monk', concerns Ambrosio, an abbot of irreproachable holiness, who is seduced by a woman disguised as a novice, and who goes on to sell his soul to the Devil. An extravagant blend of sex, death, politics, Satanism and poetry.[...]