What's your favorite classic gothic book?

[Amanda DeWees]

Phantoms by Ivan Turgenyev.
Dracula and Dracula´s guest by Bram Stoker
Clarimonde by Theophile Gautier
Carmilla by Sheridan LeFanu
Honorable mentions:
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by R L Stevenson
Vampyre by John Polidori

These and:
Vampire and Pale lady by Alexandre Dumas

I'm glad to see "Clarimonde" getting some love! That's one of my favorite vampire stories. Varney, the Vampyre, which I saw mentioned upthread, is tons of fun too, and it's nice to see that I'm not the only one who appreciates it.

Other favorites include Jane Eyre, of course, and Dracula, equally of course. The Woman in White, by Wilkie Collins, and Lady Audley's Secret, by Mary Elizabeth Braddon. And I know I'm forgetting many other great classics, but these are the ones that spring to mind right now.

[romanticdress]

Phantoms by Ivan Turgenyev.
Dracula and Dracula´s guest by Bram Stoker
Clarimonde by Theophile Gautier
Carmilla by Sheridan LeFanu
Honorable mentions:
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by R L Stevenson
Vampyre by John Polidori

These and:
Vampire and Pale lady by Alexandre Dumas

I'm glad to see "Clarimonde" getting some love!
That's one of my favorite vampire stories.

Totally agreed! Such gem should be better-known.

[Ewan Wilson]

Perhaps one of the most outre of 'gothics' is by Thomas Love Peacock. It's called Nightmare Abbey and I defy you to find anything else quite like it in English literature!
All the gothic elements are there from obligatory gloomy residence, moss encrusted graveyard, melancholic 'hero' and his heartless female 'lover' , plus a whole array of outlandish characters who make the most bizarre small talk as the action edges forward.
Another too little known 'gothicky' novel is 18th century Irish novelist, Maria Edgeworth's Castle Rackrent. Decayed gentlefolk and Anglo-Irish squirearchy make a very nice setting!
As for the Golden Age 60s/70s gothic suspensers there are so many but for slick, controlled writing in a way reminiscent of Agatha Christie in the whodunit genre, I'd nominate Helen Arvonen as a serious contender. She tightly controls the action and her characters have real life about them. 'Least of All Evils' and 'Whistle at my Window' are especially good in my opinion.
Also worth mentioning is Velda Johnston's 'The Light in the Swamp'.