A manuscript stolen from a monastery, the ancient stone house of a
sea-trading dynasty, which may be haunted. These are familiar
ingredients for a Gothic novel, but something far more strange and
disconcerting is taking place within the walls of Malpertuis as the
relatives gather for the impending death of Uncle Cassave. The
techniques of H. P. Lovecraft, when transplanted into the suffocating
Catholic context of a Belgium scarred by the inquisition, produce in
Jean Ray's masterpiece a story of monumental intensity from which events
of startling ferocity break the surface - without ever lessening the
suspense of the tale's approaching apocalyptic denouement.