5 h 4 minAudiobook5 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 romance you chase leads to a quiet inn where charm hides a deadly trap?
Richard Beckett travels towards Paris with money, good manners and little experience. A mysterious young Frenchwoman catches his eye, and love at first sight draws him onward. The courteous Marquis d'Harmonville offers guidance but keeps much to himself. Beckett wants romance and adventure; he has little sense of how easily others can turn those wishes against him.
His pursuit brings him to the Dragon Volant, a country inn that seems a comfortable stop. The conversation is pleasant, the wine is good, and the woman seems to favour him. Yet disguise and secret watchers surround his adventure. In Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's short Gothic novel, no ghost is needed: the danger comes from people, and Beckett's trust leaves him exposed.
What you’ll discover
- A trusting young traveller Follow Beckett as curiosity, vanity and longing draw him towards people he barely understands.
- Charm with hidden teeth Discover a tale where pleasant company and apparent kindness give deception room to work.
- An inn full of unease Enter the Dragon Volant, where quiet rooms conceal more than a traveller expects.
- Memory sharpens the dread An older Beckett recalls his youth, setting experience against the young man's trusting view.
- Fear without a ghost Feel suspense grow from human pretence as a reasonable man loses his grasp on events.
Who will love it
You will love this if you enjoy candlelit mysteries, masked balls, mistaken letters, secret passages and a narrator who tells his own foolish adventure with wit.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A veiled lady stops a young man's heart
- The inn fills with people who know too much
- A sword in the hall wins a white rose
- Paris, a masked ball and a talking oracle
- One room keeps swallowing its guests
- Secret meetings under the lime trees
- What the story is really about
Who’s who
- Richard BeckettA rich, vain young Englishman of twenty-three who tells the story and falls in love with a veiled stranger.
- The Countess de St. AlyreA beautiful young woman, the wife of an old Count, who says she is unhappy and wants Richard's help.
- The Count de St. AlyreAn old, jealous nobleman in a black wig and muffler who owns the Château de la Carque and the inn beside it.
- The Marquis d'HarmonvilleA courtly gentleman, calling himself Monsieur Droqville, who offers Richard advice, introductions and a place to stay.
- Colonel GaillardeA pale, scarred, boastful officer who hates the Count and Countess and wants to uncover some secret about them.
- St. ClairRichard's quick French servant, who picks up gossip about everyone and tells the tale of the haunted room.
- Monsieur CarmaignacA small, bald police official who tells Richard of the men who vanished from the Dragon Volant.
- Tom WhistlewickA cheerful English dragoon and friend of Richard, fond of champagne and loud opinions.
Formats and delivery
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 5 h 4 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 5 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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La habitación del Dragón Volante
by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu · 1872
Guests vanish from one room at the Dragon Volant, and a young Englishman in 1815 sleeps there.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
What would you risk for a face you have seen only in a mirror? In 1815, a rich young Englishman named Richard Beckett rides toward Paris and helps a stranded carriage.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A veiled lady stops a young man's heart
The story opens in 1815, soon after Waterloo. Richard Beckett, three-and-twenty and newly rich, travels by post from Brussels to Paris with the whole world seeming to travel beside him.
On the road he finds a carriage in trouble, with two horses down. He helps, and a lady in a thick black veil thanks him in charming broken English. An old man in a black wig and muffler pours out thanks in French. On the carriage door Richard notices a crimson stork holding a stone, the emblem of vigilance.
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What is The Room in the Dragon Volant about?
It follows Richard Beckett, a young Englishman in France in 1815, who falls for a veiled countess and takes a room in a haunted inn near Versailles, where several guests have mysteriously disappeared.
Who is the Marquis d'Harmonville?
He is a polished gentleman who befriends Richard on the road to Paris, offers advice and tickets, and goes by the plain name Monsieur Droqville for what he calls a delicate political mission.
Why is the room at the Dragon Volant haunted?
Three earlier guests of the same room vanished, and the inn gained a name for strange events. People in the story argue about whether the cause is supernatural or has an earthly explanation.
The author
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
1814–1873 · Irish Gothic novelist
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu was an Irish writer born in Dublin in 1814. He lived in Ireland and died in Dublin in 1873. He wrote Gothic tales, mystery novels, and ghost stories. His novels include Uncle Silas, published in 1864, and The Wyvern Mystery, published in 1869.
More by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
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