1796
2 books
- You get vivid northern landscapes, sharp observations on trade and social life, and a startlingly intimate voice as Wollstonecraft travels with her young daughter while nursing private heartbreak. It’s thoughtful and sometimes melancholy, but the mix of travel writing, political argument, and exposed feeling still feels remarkably direct.
- If you think Gothic novels are all fainting and fog, this one goes places that still feel shocking: Ambrosio is Madrid's most revered preacher, and watching his vanity get worked open by the mysterious Matilda is genuinely unsettling. Lurid, cruel in spots, and weirdly fast-moving for 1796.