4 h 57 minAudiobook10 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the evil you fear is invisible—and you can no longer trust your own mind?
In The Horla, Guy de Maupassant brings together invisible evil, paranoia, and the terrifying collapse of the human mind. This French Gothic horror story turns fear inward, toward the fragile boundary between what feels real and what the mind can trust.
The horror rests on a disturbing uncertainty: how do you face a threat you cannot see? Paranoia makes that question more frightening. The Horla invites you into a world where the unseen and the workings of the mind become sources of dread.
What you’ll discover
- Fear without a face Encounter the unsettling idea of evil that remains beyond sight.
- The grip of paranoia Explore horror rooted in suspicion and the loss of inner certainty.
- A mind under threat Confront the terror of a human mind losing its hold.
- French Gothic dread Enter Maupassant’s Gothic world of invisible evil and deepening mental fear.
- An unsettling central question Consider what remains trustworthy when fear reaches into the mind itself.
Who will love it
For readers who like ghost stories and psychological suspense, and also sly comedy about marriage, money and manners. Anyone who enjoys vivid short tales set in Normandy, Paris and the Alps will find plenty to love.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A happy man begins to sicken
- Water vanishes while he sleeps
- The invisible presence makes itself known
- He tries to trap the Horla
- Hunters, fishermen and a clever wife
- Priests, soldiers and the cost of cruelty
- Passion, pity and the art of the short tale
Who’s who
- The narrator of The HorlaA well-off Norman landowner who loves his house by the Seine and tries to prove his own sanity as an unseen presence tightens its grip.
- Dr. ParentA doctor fascinated by hypnosis who shows the narrator how one mind can command another.
- Léopold RenardAn upholsterer on trial who blames a bottle of wine and his sharp-tongued wife for a fishing quarrel.
- Mother ClochetteA bearded, limping seamstress who tells village stories to a child and guards a secret from her youth.
- Honoré BontempsA thrifty farmer who wants his wheat brought in and bargains over the cost of watching his dying mother.
- MarchasA resourceful hussar who finds wine and food anywhere and demands that the soldiers' Twelfth Night supper have company.
- Ulrich KunsiA young Swiss guide who stays at the Schwarenbach inn through the winter and fears the silence of the mountains.
- Jacques RandelA carpenter of twenty-seven who walks for weeks in search of any work and meets only suspicion.
Formats and delivery
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 4 h 57 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 10 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Read and hear El Horla in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
El Horla
by Guy de Maupassant · 1886
A man by the Seine finds his water carafe empty each morning and senses something invisible sharing his house.
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In short
The Horla is a collection of short fiction by Guy de Maupassant, the French writer who died in 1893. It opens with the title tale, a diary kept by a man who comes to believe that an invisible being has moved into his house.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A happy man begins to sicken
The diary begins on May 8 in a mood of pure pleasure. The narrator lies under a great plane tree in front of his house beside the Seine, with the spires of Rouen in the distance. A line of ships passes, and he salutes a white Brazilian three-master without knowing why.
Four days later a fever sets in, and a sadness he cannot explain. He wonders how the air, the clouds or the colour of a day can change a mood, and he reflects on how little our senses can detect. Our eyes miss what is too small or too far, and our ears turn vibrations into music. How many things might surround us that we simply cannot perceive?
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What is The Horla about?
It is a diary in which a Norman landowner records fever, nightmares and empty water carafes, and slowly concludes that an invisible being has moved in with him. The book also holds a dozen shorter tales about love, greed and war.
What is the Horla in the story?
The Horla is the name the narrator hears for the invisible creature that shares his house and bends his will. He imagines it as a new kind of being that will rule humanity as humans rule animals.
Is The Horla a true story?
No. It is fiction by Guy de Maupassant, who died in 1893. The narrator's talk of hypnosis and unseen forces reflects the scientific curiosity of the author's day, and the diary form makes the horror feel immediate.
The author
Guy de Maupassant
1850–1893 · French novelist and story writer
Guy de Maupassant was a French writer born in Normandy in 1850. He wrote short stories and novels, including A Woman’s Life (1883), Bel-Ami (1885), The Horla (1887), and Pierre and Jean (1888). He lived in France, worked as a government clerk in Paris, and died in Paris in 1893.
More by Guy de Maupassant
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