Part of Melmoth the Wanderer, book 1
First published 1820
Melmoth strikes his bargain with Satan and receives the gift he thought he wanted: eternal life. But immortality becomes a curse as decades stretch into centuries. He roams the world, desperate to escape his fate by finding another soul willing to trade places with him. Through fragments of testimony from those he encounters, the full horror of his endless existence emerges. Each person Melmoth approaches faces the same terrible choice: accept damnation in exchange for supernatural power, or reject his offer and watch him continue his tortured journey. The Irish clergyman who sold his soul discovers that some gifts extract a price far beyond what any mortal can bear. His story unfolds through the accounts of witnesses, each adding another piece to the puzzle of one man's supernatural punishment.
Genres: literary-fiction, 20th-century, horror, 19th-century, gothic
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, thought-provoking
Tropes: deal-with-the-devil, unreliable-narrator
Period: 19th-Century, 20th-Century
659 pages · Paperback · Penguin Books