A Sicilian Romance is a Gothic novel published in 1790 by the English author Ann Radcliffe. It was her second published work, following The Castles of Athlin and Dubnayne in 1789. Both novels were at first published anonymously to unenthusiastic reviews. Radcliffe’s third novel, The Romance of the Forest (1791), began to establish her reputation as a pioneer of Gothic fiction. Radcliffe’s works are often characterized by elaborate landscape descriptions, strong-willed women within patriarchal societies, and critiques of Catholicism, all of which are evident in A Sicilian Romance. The novel combines romance, suspense, and terror in a labyrinthine castle set in the Sicilian countryside, exploring dichotomies between passion and reason, the natural and civilized worlds, and good and evil.

This guide uses the 2023 Moncreiffe Press print edition.

Content Warning: This novel discusses suicide and abuse.

Plot Summary

The novel opens with a tourist in Sicily who has visited the ruin of the former Mazzini castle and has been given a manuscript describing the history of the noble family who lived there in the 16th century. The tourist reconstitutes this manuscript into the novel’s plot.

After the loss of his wife, Louisa de Bernini, the Marquis de Mazzini marries Maria de Vellorno, a beautiful but manipulative woman whom he adores. The marquis and marchioness bring his son, Ferdinand, to live in Naples, leaving his daughters Julia and Emilia at the castle in the care of Madame de Menon, a childhood friend of their mother’s. Madame was recently widowed.

Julia and Emilia grow into lovely and accomplished young women under Madame’s care, but there are mysterious happenings at the castle. The women observe strange lights in an abandoned wing, and on his deathbed, the marquis’s servant, Vincent, reveals that there is a secret crime associated with those rooms.

The marquis and marchioness bring Ferdinand home to Mazzini for a ball celebrating his birthday, where Julia falls in love with Ferdinand’s friend, Hippolitus, Count de Vereza. The marchioness takes the suite of rooms formerly occupied by Madame, Julia, and Emilia, moving them to apartments near the south wing, where they often hear strange groans and sighs. Though they investigate the abandoned wing of the house with Ferdinand’s help, they do not discover any sign of life, and the household becomes increasingly convinced that a supernatural spirit is involved.

When Ferdinand questions the marquis about the strange lights and sounds, the marquis tells him a family secret: His grandfather kidnapped a member of a neighboring family during a feud and locked him in the south wing of the castle, where he was later murdered. Ferdinand is sworn not to tell his family’s secret, but he is convinced that the castle is haunted.

Hippolitus returns and declares his love for Julia. However, the marquis decides that Julia will marry the wealthy and powerful Duke de Luovo. Distraught, Julia and Hippolitus plan to elope with Ferdinand’s help. Their escape is thwarted, and when they emerge from one of the castle’s secret passages, Hippolitus is struck down by the marquis’s sword. Julia is locked in her room until her wedding to the duke.

Julia escapes once more with the help of a maid and conceals herself in a remote forested area. The marquis believes that Ferdinand and Emilia must have been complicit in her escape, and he locks them both up. The duke sets out in search of Julia and pursues a young couple who turn out to be a different pair of lovers on the run from the woman’s father’s decree that she marry a man she does not love.

Maria de Vellorno has been chronically unfaithful to the marquis, and one day Madame catches her with a young cavalier. Knowing that the marchioness will be terrified that she will expose her secrets, Madame leaves the castle to take up residence in a convent. On her journey, Madame discovers Julia hiding in the woods and brings her along. There, Julia finds some peace and befriends a young nun named Cornelia who turns out to be the sister of Hippolitus. A short time later, Cornelia dies of grief after also being prevented from marrying the man she loved.

Spies working for the marquis discover where Julia is hiding, and the marquis sends a letter demanding that the Abate of the monastery send his daughter home. Offended by the tone of the marquis’s letter, the Abate refuses to return Julia. When the marquis attempts to storm the monastery and take Julia by force, the Abate threatens to reveal a hidden secret about the marquis, and he retreats.

As Julia prepares to take holy vows and become a nun so that her father can never force her to marry, Ferdinand arrives at the monastery and the two escape once more. They are then kidnapped by a group of bandits. During their captivity, Hippolitus comes back to Sicily in search of Julia. He encounters the bandits and rescues her.

During their escape, they are discovered by the Duke de Luovo, and Julia hides in a strange, dark passageway. While exploring what is actually the abandoned south wing of the Mazzini castle, Julia discovers her mother, Louisa. Louisa reveals to Julia that the marquis locked her in these rooms seven years ago when he grew tired of her and wanted to marry Maria de Vellorno. Julia realizes that the strange lights and sounds that made the castle seem haunted were the movements of the marquis bringing food and supplies to her mother. Julia says that she would rather remain confined with her mother than marry the Duke de Luovo.

Maria de Vellorno’s many infidelities are discovered by the marquis and they argue dramatically. Later that night, she poisons the marquis and then stabs herself in the heart, leaving a note behind explaining that the sudden illness he is experiencing was her revenge. Repenting his dissolute life, the marquis confesses to Ferdinand what he has done to Louisa. Ferdinand goes to seek his mother, but she is gone.

Ferdinand sets out to seek Julia, whom he believes to still be a captive of the bandits, and discovers Louisa and Julia with Hippolitus, who found and freed them. All, including Emilia and Madame, are joyfully reunited, abandon the castle at Mazzini, and journey to Naples, where they live happily ever after.