Prepare to be shocked. This novel written in 1796 is a Gothic festival of sex magic & ghastly ghostly violence rarely seen in literature. The Monk is remarkably modern in style & tells a breathless tale of temptation imprisonment & betrayal. Matthew Lewis recounts the downfall of Ambrosio the holier-than-thou monk seduced within the walls of a Madrid abbey until he heads for the utter corruption of the soul. Meanwhile two sets of young lovers are thwarted & the reader thrills to pursuits through the woods by bandits & is chilled by the spectre of nuns imprisoned in vermin-ridden & skeleton-crowded vaults. Late Eighteenth Century audiences were polarised in opinion as to the novels merits. Lord Byron & the Marquis de Sade were impressed by Lewiss daring while Coleridge warned parents against The Monks suitability for their sons or daughters describing the novel as poison for youth. If you want a novel that still terrifies over two hundred years after it was written there is none finer than The Monk.