Melmoth the Wanderer

In this masterpiece of Gothic horror, the story of a man doomed to wander for eternity unfolds through an eerie series of macabre encounters. After selling his soul to Satan in exchange for immortality, Melmoth is now doomed to spend eternity preying on the helpless and vulnerable. His only chance at relief is to find someone who will take his place, and so he wanders with the tortured hope of finally knowing peace. In this baroque and darkly humorous novel, Charles Maturin pieces together the story of Melmoth through the eyes of those who have encountered him over the centuries—from a prisoner of the Spanish Inquisition to an inmate at a London insane asylum.