1 h 21 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 1 h 21 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if every clue you uncover makes the world less safe to understand?
After his great-uncle George Gammell Angell dies, Francis Wayland Thurston finds a locked box of notes and a strange carved figure. The papers lead him toward Henry Anthony Wilcox, a young sculptor whose dreams of a drowned city seem to reach beyond anything the waking mind can explain.
In H. P. Lovecraft’s The Call of Cthulhu, a police raid in Louisiana and a sailor’s private account become pieces of the same disturbing puzzle. Across three linked parts, documents draw Thurston toward an ancient cult and beings indifferent to human life. What frightens him is not just a monster, but humanity’s small place in a vast universe.
What you’ll discover
- A locked box of clues Follow Thurston through inherited papers that turn a scholar’s quiet research into a deeply unsettling mystery.
- Dreams of a drowned city Meet Wilcox, whose vivid dreams take shape in a carving that draws the investigator onward.
- A trail through the swamp Trace a police inspector’s search for answers about a strange statuette and a secretive cult.
- A mystery built from scraps Piece together notes, testimony, and a sailor’s manuscript as separate accounts reveal disturbing connections.
- Fear beyond human scale Encounter cosmic horror rooted in the thought that ancient powers scarcely notice human lives.
Who will love it
Readers who love cosmic mysteries, eerie documents and clues that connect will enjoy this story. It also suits those curious about the roots of modern horror.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A dead professor's box starts a search
- A young sculptor dreams a drowned city
- Dreams and strange news spread across the world
- A policeman's idol and a swamp ritual
- The cult's creed of sleeping Old Ones
- A newspaper scrap sends the narrator to Oslo
- Why the horror comes from how the tale is told
Who’s who
- The narratorHeir to Professor Angell, he pieces together the notes, the clippings and a sailor's diary, and fears what they prove.
- Professor George Gammell AngellA retired expert on ancient inscriptions at Brown University, he gathers evidence about the cult until his sudden death.
- Henry Anthony WilcoxA young Providence sculptor whose dreams of a drowned city and its strange voice lead him to carve a creature in clay.
- Inspector John Raymond LegrasseA New Orleans police officer who raids a swamp ritual and seeks an expert who can name the idol he seized.
- Professor William Channing WebbA Princeton anthropologist who remembers a similar idol and chant from an earlier trip to Greenland.
- CastroA very old man held among the swamp prisoners, who tells police the cult's legend of the Great Old Ones.
- Gustaf JohansenA Norwegian second mate who survives a voyage that ended with a derelict yacht and who writes his story down.
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The Call of Cthulhu
by H. P. Lovecraft · 1928
A sculptor dreams a drowned city in Providence while sailors in the Pacific sail toward it.
ChallengingUnder 2 hours to readfrançais
Excellent
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In short
What would you do if a stack of old papers began to join together into a picture you could not bear to see? That is the trouble of the man who tells The Call of Cthulhu.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A dead professor's box starts a search
The story opens with a warning. The narrator says the kindest thing about the human mind is that it cannot connect everything it holds. People live on a calm island of ignorance, surrounded by black seas. He fears the day when scattered facts are joined, because the picture could drive people mad.
He then explains how he joined a few of them. In the winter of 1926 and 1927 his granduncle, George Gammell Angell, dies at ninety-two. Angell was a retired professor of Semitic languages at Brown University. He fell on a steep street near the waterfront after a sailor jostled him, and doctors blamed his heart.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1928
- Language
- français
- Reading time
- 50 min
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Lovecraft, H. P. The Call of Cthulhu. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-call-of-cthulhu.
Lovecraft, H. P. (2026). The call of Cthulhu. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-call-of-cthulhu (Original work published 1928)
Lovecraft, H. P. The Call of Cthulhu. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-call-of-cthulhu.
@book{lovecraft2026call,
author = {Lovecraft, H. P.},
title = {The Call of Cthulhu},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-call-of-cthulhu},
note = {First published 1928}
}
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What is The Call of Cthulhu about?
A man inherits his granduncle's papers and follows a trail of dreams, a swamp cult and a sea voyage. Each clue points to an ancient being called Cthulhu, who sleeps in a sunken city and waits for his followers.
What does R’lyeh mean in The Call of Cthulhu?
R’lyeh is the sunken stone city where Cthulhu lies sleeping. The cult's chant says that in his house at R’lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming. Its rising and sinking are tied to earthquakes, storms and the position of the stars.
Who is Cthulhu in the story?
Cthulhu is a being said to have come from the stars before humankind. Statues show him with an octopus head, a scaly body and wings. His cult believes he will rule again when the stars are right.
The author
H. P. Lovecraft
1890–1937 · American horror writer
Howard Phillips Lovecraft (1890–1937) was an American writer and editor born in Providence, Rhode Island. He lived mainly in Providence, but also lived in New York City from 1924 to 1926. He wrote horror stories, including “The Call of Cthulhu,” published in 1928, and “The Dunwich Horror,” published in 1929.
More by H. P. Lovecraft
Voir tous ses livresMore like this
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