E.J. Clery's acclaimed study tells the strange but true story of women's gothic, identifying contemporary fascination with the operation of the passions and the example of the great tragic actress Sarah Siddons as enabling factors, and then examining in depth the careers of two pioneers of the genre, Clara Reeve and Sophie Lee, its reigning queen, Ann Radcliffe, and the daring experimentalists Joanna Baillie and Charlotte Dacre.