FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, Publishers
NEW YORK & LONDON
A ROMANCE OF A STRANGE COUNTRY
THE INSANE ROOT
By Mrs. Campbell Praed
Author of "Nadine"; "The Scourge Stick"; "As a Watch in the Night," etc.
This story has the same motif as Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and a weird treatment resembling that of Bulwer's "Strange Story." It will compare favorably in strength and literary quality with either of these great productions. Isadas Pacha, Ambassador at the Court of St. James's from Abdullulah Zobeir, Emperor of Abaria, dying at last after a long life of mixed good and evil, leaves to his physician, Dr. Marillier, "the insane root," a mandragora root, enclosed in a small box. Marillier, a suitor of Rachel, the beautiful ward of the Pacha, envies Ruel Bey, his favored rival. Learning from the papers left by the Pacha that the mandrake root has marvelous powers, Marillier succeeds in assuming the body of Ruel who has been accidentally killed. On this change of identities the fascinating story turns. After marrying Rachel the problem of consummating the marriage can not be solved by Marillier, the wraith of the real Ruel preventing. A bolt of lightning solves the problem. There is a mystery about Rachel, who turns out to be the Emperor's own daughter. The scenery is partly that of the Algerian mountains, very graphically and beautifully described. The supernatural elements are handled in a way to make them seem actually credible. The storm climax reminds the reader of Hawthorne's best work in the Marble Fawn.
12mo, Cloth. 380 Pages. $1.50
FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, Publishers
NEW YORK & LONDON