{"product_id":"benighted-by-j-b-priestley","title":"'Benighted' by J. B. Priestley","description":"\u003ch4 data-start=\"33\" data-end=\"641\"\u003eBefore it became the basis for the classic horror film \u003cem data-start=\"88\" data-end=\"108\"\u003eThe Old Dark House\u003c\/em\u003e, J. B. Priestley's \u003cem data-start=\"128\" data-end=\"139\"\u003eBenighted\u003c\/em\u003e was already enjoyed as one of the most popular British Gothic novels of the twentieth century.\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"33\" data-end=\"641\"\u003ePublished in 1927, it begins with a group of travellers forced off the road during a violent storm who seek refuge in an isolated Welsh mansion. However, they find it populated by grotesque inhabitants, decaying aristocracy and flooded with an atmosphere that seems to infect everyone within it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"643\" data-end=\"1252\"\u003eAlthough Priestley is more commonly remembered for social novels and plays such as \u003cem data-start=\"726\" data-end=\"746\"\u003eAn Inspector Calls\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem data-start=\"748\" data-end=\"759\"\u003eBenighted\u003c\/em\u003e reveals a different register altogether. Written between the classic Gothic tradition and the emergence of modern psychological horror, the novel replaces overt supernatural spectacle with mounting dread, claustrophobia and the unsettling sense that civilisation itself is only a thin veneer. Its influence can be traced through generations of haunted house fiction and cinema, while James Whale's celebrated 1932 adaptation transformed it into one of Universal's defining early horror films.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"1254\" data-end=\"1571\"\u003eRecently reissued as part of Penguin Horror, this handsome edition returns a long-overlooked classic to print. An essential volume for readers of Gothic fiction, classic horror and twentieth-century British literature, as well as anyone interested in the literary origins of one of cinema's great haunted house films.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"1598\" data-end=\"1775\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePenguin Horror edition, 2025. Paperback. Originally published in Great Britain by Heinemann in 1927 under the title \u003cem data-start=\"1714\" data-end=\"1725\"\u003eBenighted\u003c\/em\u003e and in the United States as \u003cem data-start=\"1754\" data-end=\"1774\"\u003eThe Old Dark House. \u003c\/em\u003eA near fine copy. Binding remains tight with crisp, clean pages throughout. Appears unread, with only the faintest signs of shelf handling to the covers.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"bower studio","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45812631306323,"sku":null,"price":16.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0689\/0268\/2707\/files\/Yourparagraphtext-2026-07-12T163007.993.png?v=1783903910","url":"https:\/\/bowerbooks.com\/products\/benighted-by-j-b-priestley","provider":"bower books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}