3 h 44 minAudiobook9 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 most beautiful things in a kingdom carry a cost its young king cannot bear?
Oscar Wilde’s A House of Pomegranates gathers four fairy tales where beauty meets suffering, pride, and love. In The Young King, a boy faces the human cost of royal splendour. In The Birthday of the Infanta, a dwarf dances at a Spanish court and hopes the princess cares for him.
The Fisherman and His Soul follows a young man who catches a mermaid and is willing to surrender his soul for love. The Star-Child begins with a falling star and a poor woodcutter’s discovery. Across these tales, silk, gold, flowers, and strange gardens surround troubling questions about what beauty is worth.
What you’ll discover
- The price of splendour Follow a young king whose love of beautiful things meets the suffering of workers.
- Hope at a glittering court Meet a dwarf whose hopes for affection stand beside a princess’s birthday amusements.
- Love against the soul Enter a fisherman’s strange struggle between love for a mermaid and his returning soul.
- Beauty touched by pride Discover a child from a fallen star who grows beautiful, vain, and unkind.
- Images that invite lingering Pause over embroidered robes, gardens of tulips, and the colours of a sea cave.
Who will love it
For readers who love fairy tales with a shadow, lush description, and short stories that leave a lasting image. It also suits anyone curious about Wilde beyond his comedies.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A shepherd boy learns what beauty costs
- A princess watches a dwarf dance
- A fisherman trades his soul for love
- A star falls and a child grows proud
- What the four tales share beneath the gold
- How Wilde tells these tales
Who’s who
- The Young KingA boy raised by a goatherd, now crowned heir, who loves beautiful things and is troubled by what they cost.
- The InfantaA twelve-year-old Spanish princess, shaped by court ceremony, who enjoys her birthday entertainments.
- The DwarfA wild forest creature brought to the Spanish court to dance, who hopes the princess cares for him.
- The FishermanA young man who falls in love with a mermaid and is willing to give up his soul for her.
- The SoulThe fisherman's soul, sent away without a heart, which returns each year to tempt him with the world.
- The Star-ChildA beautiful child who fell from a star, found by a poor woodcutter, and grows up vain and unkind.
Formats and delivery
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- Large-print eBook
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- Audiobook
- 3 h 44 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 9 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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Une maison de grenades
by Oscar Wilde · 1891
A young king discovers the human cost of beautiful things, while a fisherman gives up his soul for love.
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 6
A shepherd boy learns what beauty costs
The first tale, The Young King, begins on the night before a coronation. The king is only sixteen. He was raised by a goatherd in the forest, and he has lately been found and brought to the palace. He is the grandson of the old king, born to the old king's daughter and a man of low birth. The court knows the story, and the boy is now a stranger among marble halls.
The young king is wild for beauty. He wanders through his palace like a child let loose in a treasure house. He touches velvet, handles jewels and studies pictures. He sends for rare things for his coronation, including a robe of gold, a ruby crown and a pearl sceptre. The court smiles at his taste and thinks him harmless.
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What is A House of Pomegranates about?
It is a book of four literary fairy tales by Oscar Wilde. They deal with beauty, pride, cruelty and love, and follow a young king, a Spanish princess and a dwarf, a fisherman and his soul, and a star-child.
What are the four stories in A House of Pomegranates?
They are The Young King, The Birthday of the Infanta, The Fisherman and His Soul, and The Star-Child. The book was published in 1891 and was the second of Wilde's fairy tale collections.
Is A House of Pomegranates for children?
Wilde wrote it neither for children nor for the general public of his day. The stories use fairy tale forms, but they are ornate, sad and morally complex, so they suit older readers better than small children.
The author
Oscar Wilde
1854–1900 · Irish playwright and poet
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) was an Irish poet, playwright, and novelist born in Dublin. He lived in London and later in France, where he died in Paris. He published The Picture of Dorian Gray in 1890. His play The Importance of Being Earnest was first performed in 1895.
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