Addicted to laudanum and prey to inexplicable visions, Silas appears like a spirit to his neice Maud. Silas has his own plans for Maud and the fortune she will inherit. Uncle Silas is LeFanu's best-known novel, dealing with themes of spiritualism, secret corruption, greed, lust, and other peculiar Victorian obsessions. A classic novel of spiritual terror by opne of the true masters of the form.