Uncle Silas


Read by Great Plains

(4.4 stars; 116 reviews)

Uncle Silas is a Victorian Gothic mystery/thriller novel by the Anglo-Irish writer J. Sheridan Le Fanu. It is notable as one of the earliest examples of the locked room mystery sub-genre. It is not a novel of the supernatural (despite a few creepily ambiguous touches), but does show a strong interest in the occult and in the ideas of Swedenborg. (Summary by Wikipedia) (18 hr 38 min)

Chapters

A Preliminary Word 4:01 Read by Great Plains
Austin Ruthyn, Of Knowl, And His Daughter 16:34 Read by Great Plains
Uncle Silas 11:40 Read by Great Plains
A New Face 12:05 Read by Great Plains
Madame De La Rougierre 8:38 Read by Great Plains
Sights And Noises 11:10 Read by Great Plains
A Walk In The Wood 12:07 Read by Great Plains
Church Scarsdale 11:43 Read by Great Plains
The Smoker 11:05 Read by Great Plains
Monica Knollys 12:44 Read by Great Plains
Lady Knollys Removes A Coverlet 12:02 Read by Great Plains
Lady Knollys Sees The Features 11:23 Read by Great Plains
A Curious Conversation 11:06 Read by Great Plains
Before And After Breakfast 13:24 Read by Great Plains
Angry Words 16:30 Read by Great Plains
A Warning 14:56 Read by Great Plains
Doctor Bryerly Looks In 15:27 Read by Great Plains
An Adventure 17:17 Read by Great Plains
A Midnight Visitor 19:33 Read by Great Plains
Au Revoir 17:19 Read by Great Plains
Austin Ruthyn Sets Out On His Journey 15:59 Read by Great Plains
Arrivals 18:53 Read by Great Plains
Somebody In The Room With The Coffin 15:00 Read by Great Plains
I Talk With Doctor Bryerly 15:44 Read by Great Plains
The Opening Of The Will 22:51 Read by Great Plains
I Hear From Uncle Silas 20:22 Read by Great Plains
The Story Of Uncle Silas 15:43 Read by Great Plains
More About Tom Charke’s Suicide 14:41 Read by Great Plains
I Am Persuaded 20:11 Read by Great Plains
How The Ambassador Fared 20:58 Read by Great Plains
On The Road 17:52 Read by Great Plains
Bartram-Haugh 23:32 Read by Great Plains
Uncle Silas 19:29 Read by Great Plains
The Windmill Wood 15:02 Read by Great Plains
Zamiel 20:08 Read by Great Plains
We Visit A Room In The Second Storey 15:49 Read by Great Plains
An Arrival At Dead Of Night 17:37 Read by Great Plains
Doctor Bryerly Emerges 17:50 Read by Great Plains
A Midnight Departure 17:56 Read by Great Plains
Cousin Monica And Uncle Silas Meet 20:06 Read by Great Plains
In Which I Make Another Cousin's Acquaintance 17:16 Read by Great Plains
My Cousin Dudley 16:54 Read by Great Plains
Elverston And Its People 22:54 Read by Great Plains
News At Bartram Gate 23:43 Read by Great Plains
A Friend Arises 24:09 Read by Great Plains
A Chapter-Full of Lovers 17:56 Read by Great Plains
The Rivals 18:27 Read by Great Plains
Doctor Bryerly Reappears 16:13 Read by Great Plains
Question and Answer 16:41 Read by Great Plains
An Apparition 20:13 Read by Great Plains
Milly's Farewell 20:43 Read by Great Plains
Sarah Matilda Comes To Light 20:02 Read by Great Plains
The Picture of a Wolf 20:56 Read by Great Plains
An Odd Proposal 21:31 Read by Great Plains
In Search Of Mr. Charke’s Skeleton 23:18 Read by Great Plains
The Foot of Hercules 16:45 Read by Great Plains
I Conspire 14:00 Read by Great Plains
The Letter 17:59 Read by Great Plains
Lady Knollys' Carriage 18:14 Read by Great Plains
A Sudden Departure 20:27 Read by Great Plains
The Journey 16:47 Read by Great Plains
Our Bed-Chamber 18:30 Read by Great Plains
A Well-Known Face Looks In 18:20 Read by Great Plains
Spiced Claret 18:31 Read by Great Plains
The Hour of Death 13:47 Read by Great Plains
In The Oak Parlour 5:24 Read by Great Plains
Conclusion 12:20 Read by Great Plains

Reviews

fascinating story


(4 stars)

genre book which reminded me of turn of the screw, but less pretentious. I really like this underrated victorian author. His female characters are great, & if it were a movie it would pass the Bechtel test in spades. Interesting laudanum addiction angle. reading is competent and well paced.

nice reading but uninteresting


(5 stars)

Five starts for the reading! The story itself was a disappointment. It checks all the boxes of a victorian gothic yet there is no suspense and no mystery. You'll see everything coming from a mile away and all the events are sterched unnecessary long. The characters are flat and all behave as you would expect them to. Which makes it even more annoying that our clueless narrator can't figure any of them out. She is so helpless and naive (and whiny) that makes her unbelievable even for a victorian lady. She's supposed to be 18, why is she acting like a helpless child? Based on what I've read from him, I don't think Mr. Le Fanu had a high opinion of young women.... I wouldn't recommend this book, even with the great reading.

Some Ridiculous Characters


(3 stars)

The reader was excellent. The story wasn't very suspenseful nor mysterious. The girl was a whiny neurotic wuss! She didn't complain about her governess every time she should've. When she did complain she didn't mention important things like her finger being pulled back. The father wasn't as difficult to hear about but was also written about ridiculously at times. He didn't like his brother, didn't want him discussed with his daughter, yet wants to clear his name by making the decision he did. WTH? This stuff was hard to swallow & get through despite the story being written well.

Love the reader, but the protagonist is a whiner.


(3.5 stars)

Very well read. This text is along the lines of what you would expect from this author. Long story which could have been shorter, but still fun to listen to. The protagonist chaps my nerves with her whining and wringing of hands, but otherwise a fun little tale.

They say


(5 stars)

This author's art was influenced by the death of his teenage sister. He invented the "lesbian vimpire", a character who stays eternally young and is named after his real life sister. This is a classic gothic tale about a really screwed up family, told by a young heroine. Thank you for the excellent reading.

I liked it


(4 stars)

I really liked this book. It really kept my interest and I really wanted to finish it to figure out how it all came together. I am glad I read it and I will read more by this author. The reader did a fantastic job. I will read more by him.

amazing reader ok book


(3.5 stars)

The story is a little drawn out and tended to loose me at times. What kept me listening was the reader. He was amazing I would live to know who he is so I can hear me books he has hopefully recorded.

GREAT STORY!


(5 stars)

truly a fantastic and long mystery which is such a great find on LibriVox there are many great Mysteries but not as long as I like and this one has 65 chapters. the narrator is very good and I thoroughly enjoyed this book