The Monk (1796) is a masterpiece of Gothic fiction and the first horror novel in English literature. It tells of the pious monk Ambrosio's descent into depravity, his passion leading to rape, blasphemy, black magic, incest, and murder. Its sensational story also reflects the terrors of the French Revolution.

Nick Groom publishes widely for both academic and popular readerships and his recent books include The Forger's Shadow (2002), The Union Jack (2006), The Gothic: A Very Short Introduction (2012), and an edition of Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto for Oxford World's Classics (2014). His book The Seasons: An Elegy for the Passing Year (2013) was shortlisted for the Katharine Briggs Folklore Award and nominated for BBC Countryfile Book of the Year.