One Thousand and One Ghosts »

The first translation of Dumas macabre collection of supernatural tales, written at the height of the Revolutions of 1848 and told with almost unbearable suspense.

Paralyzed with fear, a man confesses to the murder of his wife and, rather than return to the scene of the crime, begs to be locked in prison. As the police probe further, they learn the ghastly truth-that in a fit of fury, the man decapitated his wife, only to see the detached head turn around and whisper to him. Gathering together to decide whether such "deathly activity" is, in fact, possible, a doctor, a priest, and the police in turn tell their own tales of ghostly activity. The result is one of the most remarkable collections of supernatural stories ever written.

French novelist and playwright Alexandre Dumas (1802-70) was a key figure in Romantic theater; his most famous works are The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo.

TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT

In the preface to his very readable translation, Andrew Brown discusses the wider context against which Dumas was writing when the book first appeared in 1849. It deserves to have been disinterred and brought back to haunt us, as one of this fine and varied series of translations.