Sheridan LeFanu

Sheridan Le Fanu was born in Dublin in 1814. His father, Thomas Le Fanu, was a clergyman with the Church of Ireland, and their family struggled financially as conflicts between the Church and the public arose. Le Fanu eventually chose to study law at Trinity College in Dublin but soon abandoned law to pursue writing full-time, contributing a myriad of short stories to the Dublin University Magazine. Le Fanu's literary career expanded exponentially with the publication of several sensationalist horror novels in the 1860s and beyond. In just eight years, Le Fanu contributed twelve short novels to the popular genre, including the gothic mystery Uncle Silas. With a penchant for all things macabre and subtly supernatural, his work quickly ascended the ranks of horror fiction.