The Orphan of the Rhine

Eleanor Sleath was a British author wellknown for her 1798 novel The Orphan of the Rhine. The novel, subtitled A Romance, was published in four volumes. It was listed as one of the seven "horrid novels" by Jane Austen in her novel Northanger Abbey. It was part of a brief but popular vogue of German tales, a fashion criticised in the Critical Review in 1807. Although most gothic novels took a resolutely anti Roman Catholic stance, the author of this novel was herself a Catholic. Her works include: Who's the Murderer?; or, Mysterious Fortunes (1802), Nocturnal Minstrel; or, The Spirit of the Wood (2 volumes) (1810) and Glenowen; or, The Fairy Palace (1815).