14 h 45 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 14 h 45 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if your safety rests with a family whose secrets you cannot trust?
At Wyvern, an old English country house, a young woman lives in the shadow of people with more power than she has. Property, marriage and family secrets press in around her. In Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s The Wyvern Mystery, knowing whom to trust matters as much as having the resolve to survive.
Land and money shape this Victorian world, and inheritance decides who holds power. With few rights, the young woman must find her way through dangers rooted in family life. Le Fanu builds dread through suggestion and atmosphere, drawing you into a house where questions of law, marriage and safety carry a deeply personal weight.
What you’ll discover
- A house with a hold Enter Wyvern, where the country house shapes the story’s mood and the young woman’s fears.
- Resolve against unequal power Follow a young woman whose determination matters in a world that grants her few rights.
- Inheritance with real stakes Explore how land and money give some people power over the safety of others.
- Secrets close to home Feel the strain of family ties when marriage and property make trust difficult.
- Dread that gathers slowly Settle into brooding suspense that lets suggestion and atmosphere do the work of fear.
Who will love it
Readers who love candlelit Victorian suspense, haunted old houses, family secrets and disputed inheritances will find plenty here, along with the moody country settings of Le Fanu's ghost stories.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A girl with a secret on the road
- The old squire becomes a suitor
- A midnight flight and a blow on the terrace
- A hidden home at Carwell Grange
- Mildred's warning story
- Harry brings bad news and Charles keeps quiet
- A letter from Harry and a night visitor
- The knife in the night
- The woman who claims to be his wife
- Harry takes charge
Who’s who
- Alice MaybellA gentle vicar's orphan raised at Wyvern. She marries in secret and wants only to be loved and to keep her husband's trust.
- Charles FairfieldThe squire's elder son, called Captain Fairfield or Ry. Loving but weak, he hides a dangerous secret and avoids telling his wife the truth.
- Squire Henry FairfieldThe proud, violent old master of Wyvern. He wants Alice for himself and turns on his son when she escapes him.
- Harry FairfieldThe younger son, a horse dealer with a rustic wit and a sharp eye for profit. He claims to help his brother but guards his own interest.
- Mildred TarnleyThe stern, sour servant of Carwell Grange. She tells hard truths and lies when she must to protect the household.
- Dulcibella CraneAlice's devoted old nurse, kind and simple. She follows her mistress everywhere and fears secrets.
- Lady WyndaleAlice's warm, plain-speaking aunt, who hopes for a good match and offers her a home at Oulton.
- Bertha VelderkaustA blind foreign woman from Hoxton with a cruel temper. She claims a prior right to the Fairfield name and fortune.
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Il mistero di Wyvern
by J. Sheridan Le Fanu · 1869
A vicar's orphan slips off to a lonely glen house, and a veiled stranger starts asking where she is going.
Medium level10–20 hours to readItaliano
Excellent
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In short
Why would a girl in furs, with forty miles of road ahead, beg her coachman to turn aside to an empty old house in a forest glen? Alice Maybell does just that, and a veiled woman in a hired carriage blocks the road to ask where she is going.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A girl with a secret on the road
The novel opens at Oulton, where Alice Maybell says goodbye to her aunt, Lady Wyndale. The aunt hopes her niece will marry a rich lord. Alice only blushes and sighs. She admits in a whisper that she is not happy at Wyvern.
On the road across Elverstone Moor, Alice asks her coachman to turn off toward a place called Carwell Grange. She offers him two pounds to keep quiet. In a narrow glen a hired carriage is drawn across the road. A tall woman in gray tweed, her face hidden by a veil, asks through her driver whether they are going to the Grange. The coachman lies and says no.
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- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1869
- Language
- Italiano
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan. The Wyvern Mystery. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-wyvern-mystery.
Le Fanu, J. S. (2026). The Wyvern mystery. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-wyvern-mystery (Original work published 1869)
Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan. The Wyvern Mystery. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-wyvern-mystery.
@book{lefanu2026wyvern,
author = {Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan},
title = {The Wyvern Mystery},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-wyvern-mystery},
note = {First published 1869}
}
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What is The Wyvern Mystery about?
It follows Alice Maybell, a vicar's orphan raised at Wyvern manor, who escapes the old squire's marriage plan by wedding his son. They hide at Carwell Grange, where a haunted house, debts and a claim from the past threaten them.
Who is Bertha Velderkaust?
She is a blind woman of foreign speech who comes to Carwell Grange. She says she is Charles Fairfield's lawful wife and her arrival drives the plot. Her temper and her claim are what the Fairfields fear.
Is The Wyvern Mystery a ghost story?
It has a ghostly legend, a dark curtain that appears in the gallery of Carwell Grange and is said to warn Fairfield wives. The main dangers, though, are human, which makes it a mix of Gothic suspense and family drama.
The author
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
1814–1873 · Irish Gothic novelist
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu was an Irish writer born in Dublin in 1814. He lived in Ireland and died in Dublin in 1873. He wrote Gothic tales, mystery novels, and ghost stories. His novels include Uncle Silas, published in 1864, and The Wyvern Mystery, published in 1869.
More by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
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