The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a terrifying glimpse into both a horrific gothic scenario and a psychological phenomenon. One of the first literary works to fully tackle the concept of a ‘split’ or ‘dual’ personality, the novel was streets ahead of its time in 1886 and continues to be a firm favourite in the horror genre and beyond.
Dr. Henry Jekyll creates a mysterious elixir, which he hopes will help to enable him to explore the hidden depths of his personality. Coinciding with his experiment, Mr Edward Hyde starts to appear more frequently on the London scene, often by night, and always leaving a trail of destruction and fear in his wake. When Mr Hyde is seen disappearing into Dr Jekyll’s office, tongues begin to wag…how are the two men related, and can the evil Mr Hyde be stopped before a scandal ensues which threatens to engulf the mild-mannered Dr Jekyll too?
“Gothic horror at its best.”
daily Express
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Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-94) was a Scottish novelist, poet and essayist who achieved worldwide acclaim for Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Born and educated in Edinburgh, Stevenson began with essays, short stories and travel writing, most notably Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes (1879). He is best remembered for his first novel Treasure Island (1883) and for The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886). The great Scottish novels followed, with Kidnapped (1886), The Master of Ballantrae (1889), and Weir of Hermiston (1893), which was left unfinished at his death. Catriona (1893), was always planned as the immediate sequel to Kidnapped, but had been delayed in the writing. Stevenson spent seven years in the South Seas, settling for the last five on the island of Upolu in Samoa, where he died suddenly from a cerebral stroke at the age of forty-four.