Wormwood

(Hardback)

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Wormwood (1890) is a novel by Marie Corelli. Published at the beginning of Corellis career as one of the most successful writers of her generation, Wormwood combines realism, social commentary, and family drama to tell a story of murder, revenge, and addiction set in the bustling city of Paris. Due for reassessment by a modern audience, Marie Corellis workwhich has inspired several adaptations for film and theateris a must read for fans of nineteenth century fiction. Men such as Gaston Beauvais are to be met with every day in Parisand not only in Paris, but in every part of the Continent where the Curse, which forms the subject of this story, has any sort of sway. The morbidness of the modern French mind is well known []; the open atheism, heartlessness, flippancy, and flagrant immorality of the whole modern French school of thought is unquestioned. Intended as a rallying cry to English readers, Wormwood states quite clearly Corellis beliefs on progressivism and the dangers of alcohol. Echoing the popular realist novels of French contemporary Emile Zola, Corelli provides a gritty portrait of ambition and suffering in Paris. When young Gaston Beauvais is betrayed by his fiance and best friend, he turns from a life of promise to the promise of absinthe, beginning a tragic spiral into violence and despair. Addressing philosophical, psychological, and religious themes, Wormwood is a moving work of fiction which asks important questions about an emerging modern world. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Marie Corellis Wormwood is a classic work of English literature reimagined for modern readers.

Author Bio

Marie Corelli (1855-1924) was an English novelist. Born Mary Mackay in London, she was sent to a Parisian convent to be educated in 1866. Returning to England in 1870, Corelli worked as a pianist and began her literary career with the novel A Romance of Two Worlds (1886). A favorite writer of Winston Churchill and the British Royal Family, Corelli was the most popular author of her generation. Known for her interest in mysticism and the occult, she earned a reputation through works of fantasy, Gothic, and science fiction. From 1901 to 1924, she lived in Stratford-upon-Avon, where she continued to write novels, short story collections, and works of non-fiction. Corelli, whose works have been regularly adapted for film and the theater, was largely rejected by the male-dominated literary establishment of her time. Despite this, she is remembered today as a pioneering author who wrote for the public, not for the critics who sought to deny her talent.