Publisher's Synopsis
Six scandalous tales that shocked 19th-century France-and will disturb you today.
When Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly published The She-Devils in 1874, the French government immediately prosecuted him for corrupting public morals. The book was too dangerous, too revealing, too honest about the darkness lurking beneath respectable society.
What made these stories so threatening?
Meet the most unforgettable-and terrifying-women in literature. They're not victims. They're predators. Driven by obsession, revenge, and desires that polite society refuses to acknowledge, these "she-devils" will stop at nothing to get what they want.
✓ A duchess who abandons everything for the ultimate revenge
✓ Women who use their beauty as a weapon
✓ Aristocrats hiding shocking secrets behind mansion walls
✓ Passion that destroys everyone it touches
"Literature had grown timid," Barbey d'Aurevilly declared. "It fails to capture the true crimes that happen daily." So he wrote the stories that others wouldn't dare-tales ripped from the confessionals and drawing rooms of high society.
Written by a dandy who moved in the highest circles, these psychological masterpieces expose the sophisticated cruelties that civilization breeds. They're more disturbing than any Gothic horror because they're rooted in recognizable human nature.
The government tried to silence these stories.
Now discover why they terrified an entire nation.
Perfect for readers of dark literary fiction, psychological thrillers, and anyone fascinated by the secret lives of the powerful.
Some books are banned for a reason. This is one of them.
