First published in 1845, Le Fanu's The Cock and Anchor is one of the most interesting historical novels written in Ireland in the nineteenth century. It is many things at once: a record of Victorian Irish mores, a story of love struggling against class prejudice, a study of crime and punishment, and an engaging thriller. But first and foremost it is a full-bodied, energetic portrait of mid-nineteenth-century Dublin. (Goodreads)
Sheridan Le Fanu, in full Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, (born Aug. 28, 1814, Dublin, Ire. —died Feb. 7, 1873, Dublin), Irish writer of ghost stories and mystery novels, celebrated for his ability to evoke the ominous atmosphere of a haunted house.