About
Ann Radcliffe (née Ward; 9 July 1764 – 7 February 1823) was an English novelist who pioneered the Gothic novel, and a minor poet. Her fourth and most popular novel, The Mysteries of Udolpho, was published in 1794. She is also remembered for The Romance of the Forest (1791) and The Italian (1797). Her novels combine suspenseful narratives, exotic historical settings, and apparently-supernatural events which turn out to have rational explanations.