The son of Thomas Philip and Emma Dobbin Le Fanu, Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu was born in Dublin on 28 August 1814. His family belonged to the professional and upper classes and were related to several of the leading families in Dublin, including the Sheridans (Le Fanu's paternal grandmother was a sister of Richard Brinsley Sheridan). Le Fanu's father, a Church of Ireland clergyman, was appointed chaplain for the Royal Hibernian Military School in 1815, so Joseph, along with his older sister, Catherine Frances, and his younger brother, William, spent his early childhood in Phoenix Park, a large public park just northwest of Dublin, which contained the school and the residences of British administrators. In 1815 the park, which still looks much the same today, was the site of duels, military pageantry, and upper-class life. On its edges were several villages, including Chapelizod, the setting for The House by the Churchyard...