The House By The Churchyard

Sheridan Le Fanu's historical mystery novel The House by the Churchyard was written in 1863. A skull unearthed in a churchyard show signs of violent blows to the head and, even more disturbingly, the small hole caused by trepanning. One hundred years before, a coffin is buried secretly, "R.D." the only identification on its brass plague. The House by the Churchyard was a major source of inspiration for James Joyce's Finnegans Wake.

The House by the Church-Yard (1863) is a novel by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. An important source for James Joyce's Finnegans Wake, The House by the Church-Yard is a hybrid of the mystery and historical genres of fiction. With its complex use of side plots and extensive frame narrative, the novel is central to Le Fanu's legacy as an innovator whose literary works inspired Bram Stoker and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. During a routine interment at a churchyard in the historic village of Chapelizod, a grave is disturbed revealing a skull buried a century earlier. Upon examination, a gruesome discovery is made--not only does the skull show signs of severe head trauma, it contains a hole from an emergency trepanning procedure. Stirred by the discovery, an old man named Charles de Cresseron pieces together the story of a time the village had nearly forgotten. In the eighteenth century, a coffin was secretly buried in the churchyard, with no defining characteristics except for the initials "R.D." As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that this burial is somehow related to a series of mysterious events--a love triangle between a general's daughter, a local official, and a man who has taken residence in a home rumored to be haunted; the suicide of a disgraced prisoner; and a rivalry between a deeply indebted doctor and the agent of a local lord whose home has been infiltrated by a dubious imposter. As these plots swirl and converge, The House by the Church-Yard emerges as a masterpiece of suspense, a thriller that delights its reader just as much as it demands their attention. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's The House by the Church-Yard is a classic of Irish literature reimagined for modern readers.

The House by the Churchyard (1863) is a novel by Sheridan Le Fanu that combines elements of the mystery novel and theHistoricalnovel. Aside from its own merits, the novel is important as a key source for James Joyce's Finnegans Wake

The House by the Churchyard is a novel by Sheridan Le Fanu published in 1863 that combines elements of the mystery novel and the historical novel. Set in the village of Chapelizod, near Dublin, in the 1760s the story opens with the accidental disinterment of an old skull in the churchyard, and an eerie late-night funeral. This discovery relates to murders, both recent and historical whose repercussions disrupt the complacent pace of village affairs and change the lives of many of its notable characters forever. Charm and chilling darkness abound in equal measure in one of the greatest novels of a Victorian master of mystery.

The House by the Churchyard is a novel by Sheridan Le Fanu that combines elements of the mystery novel and the historical novel. Aside from its own merits, the novel is important as a key source for James Joyce's Finnegans Wake.

The House by the Churchyard is a novel by Sheridan Le Fanu that combines elements of the mystery novel and the historical novel. Aside from its own merits, the novel is important as a key source for James Joyce's Finnegans Wake.

DescriptionThe House by the Churchyard is a novel by Sheridan Le Fanu that combines elements of the mystery novel and the historical novel. Aside from its own merits, the novel is important as a key source for James Joyce's Finnegans Wake.