Elizabeth Gaskell 
The Doom of the Griffiths 

Later in her career, Victorian-era novelist Elizabeth Gaskell turned away from the domestic dramas that dominated her previous work and began to experiment with gothic horror, honing her craft over a period of years. This short novella focuses on the trials and tribulations of a supposedly cursed family and offers up a number of keen observations about the psychological impact of laboring under such a fate.