Clermont was originally published in 1798 by Lane’s Minerva Press. It is now best known for being one of the “horrid novels” listed in Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey. Horrid in the sense of being shocking, corrupting, and morally undermining. Yet, in common with the majority of eighteenth-century novels, Clermont advises against superstition, promotes an adherence to propriety and filial obligation, and warns against evil intent. The antagonists are condemned for their actions and act as a warning to the naïve and innocent reader.

As the title of the novel suggests, this book involves the discovery of a secret Clermont wishes to hide both from his daughter and the reader. This makes it one of the most intricate and complicated plots of all eighteenth-century gothic novels, as it seeks to deceive by using various pseudonyms for different characters. Madeline is the main heroine of the novel, but her grandmother is also called Madeline St. Julian. Her father is Clermont, but his original name is Lausanne, and he is renamed St. Julian when he inherits his title.

There is D’Alembert Senior and D’Alembert Junior, also known as Dupont; both have wives named Madame D’Alembert. Although the servants do not generally change their names, their loyalties are called into question with Lafroy and Josephe being brothers who keep secrets and give accounts of events that the reader later learns are not completely accurate. This forms a hidden psychological deception alongside more physical representations.

Thus, Roche uses long passages, stone steps, hidden doorways and ruined castles to create a sense of foreboding and disguise mysterious pointing hands and hidden faces. Yet she is quick to dismiss such apparitions as superstitious and a deception of the mind, reprimanding any character who succumbs to such irrationality. Yet she chooses not to enlighten the reader as to how these apparitions are achieved until the end of the book, when all mysteries and deceptions are explained.

Roche also uses the idea of the innocent, vulnerable female in the form of the heroine Madeline. Yet with such innocence comes a sweetness of temperament, a natural benevolence, and personal sacrifice. She would agree to marry a man she detests if it would save her father from an unjust punishment. To his credit, Clermont would sacrifice his own life rather than see his daughter unhappy. It is perhaps a mark of sensibility and heightened emotion that both men and women in this novel suffer from bouts of fainting; yet this reaction is usually due to shock. Madame D’Alembert faints when she sees the coffin of her mother after travelling a long distance.

Madeline, seeking shelter in the castle of Montmorenci, faints when a group of men bursts into the room where they are standing, believing they are banditti come to do them harm. When she recovers, she is informed of her mistake, that they are servants of the count who owns the castle. When the Marquis is told that his son, whom he believes is dead, is alive, he faints away. Roche states, “Great joy and great sorrow are often alike in their effects.” This further supports the argument that it is shock that deprives the characters of their senses and not ignorant superstition or irrational fear.

In common with many gothic novels of this time, it is the psychology of fear that is emphasized. Madeline’s thoughts are plagued by fear of the unknown and by the misinterpretation of events. The Countess warns her that there are men who will prey on the emotions of the innocent with shame and sorrow whilst bragging about their triumph. The mystery surrounding de Sevignie makes her worry that he may be one of those worthless characters. This is reinforced by his correspondence, which addresses her with cold indifference. The novel also details physical threats; when the Countess is wounded, Madeleine goes to get help but is fearful that the murderer may come back to kill her. She is described as being “in an agony of fear—an agony which took from her all emotion” while she clings to a pillar for support.

This fear is based on an unknown assailant who might attack her. Later in the novel, when D’Alembert imprisons her in the house of Madame Fleury, the threat of violence becomes real. Trapped in a room alone with D’Alembert, she attempts to leave, but he seizes her hand and drags her back to her seat. She pleads with him to let her go, but he refuses, arguing that he is serious when he says he loves her. He claims he will not use violence to force her to love him, but if she does not comply with his wishes, he will surrender her father to the authorities. Thus, Roche demonstrates that women did not simply succumb to superstitious fears, but they were physically vulnerable due to their lack of independence and the need for a male protector.

Catherine Moreland in Northanger Abbey lets her imagination run away with her and sees violence and conspiracy where there is none. The accusation is that she cannot separate fiction from reality, but as Clermont demonstrates, not all women are prone to superstition, and they are vulnerable to forced marriage and even threats against their lives due to avarice and ambition. Gothic novels formed a scary form of entertainment but still upheld many eighteenth-century values found in other more reputable works.