The Castle of Otranto

A terrible prophecy. A haunted castle. A desperate ruler determined to defy the fate awaiting his family.On the day his son Conrad is to marry the beautiful Isabella, Prince Manfred of Otranto is confronted with an impossible tragedy: Conrad is suddenly crushed beneath an enormous helmet that appears without explanation. Fearing that the catastrophe signals the fulfilment of an ancient prophecy foretelling the destruction of his house, Manfred becomes determined to preserve his bloodline at any cost. He resolves to cast aside his wife and marry Isabella himself, forcing the horrified young woman to flee through the dark passages beneath the castle.As Isabella struggles to escape Manfred's grasp, strange and terrifying events multiply. Gigantic pieces of armour appear without warning, portraits seem to move, mysterious apparitions haunt the castle, and a young man named Theodore becomes entangled in secrets surrounding Otranto's rightful inheritance. Filled with hidden identities, forbidden love, ancient crimes, supernatural terror, and the relentless workings of fate, Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto is a dark tale of ambition and vengeance in which the sins of the past return to claim the living.