We find passionate hearts, dreams gone wrong and enigmas slowly revealed until we arrive at the story's stunning conclusion. And, like the best gothic fiction, the story transcends the events it depicts and gives us themes to chew on long after we've finished the last paragraph, themes that have resonated in literature throughout history: how easily love and ambition can mutate into jealousy, deceit and greed, for instance, and how our nature and character determine our ultimate fate.