The "Gothic" novel

This is a genre of literature which deals with a secret, probably horrific, inside the novel. This trend was started by Horace Walpole's "The Castle of Otranto" (1764). Haunted castles, strange noises & acceptance of the supernatural are the hallmarks of this work.

Later other authors, known for their literary acumen, also occasionally indulged themselves in writing such novels. Notably Emily Bronte's "Wuthering Heights" is also an example. Her sister, Charlotte's masterpiece, "Jane Eyre" also can be considered one, because Mr. Rochester's first wife, insane, is locked up secretly in his house, because of which he cannot marry the heroine Jane.

Such was the prevalence of these novels, that much earlier than the Brontes, Jane Austen parodied the genre in her "Northanger Abbey", whose protagonist, Catherine Morland, when invited to the Abbey, let her imagination run wild to find a (non-existent) Gothic secret hidden there, only to be put right by her host later.

Even children's literature has examples of  this type as can be evinced from Frances Hodgson Burnett's "The Secret Garden." The garden, though secret & hidden, is not the Gothic element, but a small boy, hidden in the house by his indifferent father & cupidinous uncle.

Daphne du Maurier's classic "Rebecca" has also the past itself as a horrific secret which casts it's ominous shadow over the present.

The trend continues even now as evinced by the issue of the Reader's Digest "A Gothic Treasure Trove" omnibus volume containing six novels by modern lady practitioners like Madeline Brent, Phyllis A. Whitney, Victoria Holt, Barbara Michaels, Dorothy Eden & Jessica North.