21 h 27 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 21 h 27 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if escaping old age means carrying a curse that puts love itself in danger?
Fernand Wagner is old, poor, and afraid of dying. His strength fades, and his past offers little comfort. Then a mysterious stranger offers him a new life. In George W. M. Reynolds's Gothic novel, the promise of youth comes with a terrible price: Wagner must live beneath the curse of the wolf.
Young again, Wagner can love and be loved. But his bargain casts a shadow over the people who enter his life. Nisida and Agnes become bound to his fate as love, secrets, and rivals gather around him. Set in Renaissance Italy, this tale blends horror and romance with a troubling question: what does it cost to escape human limits?
What you’ll discover
- A stranger's terrible offer Meet the mysterious figure whose promise answers Wagner's desperation and brings a curse.
- Youth beneath a shadow Follow a man who regains youth but cannot leave the bargain's burden behind.
- Love drawn into danger Discover Nisida and Agnes, whose lives become entangled with Wagner's troubled fate.
- The cost of longing Explore the wish to defeat age and poverty, and the debt that follows.
- Gothic thrills and romance Enter a long, melodramatic adventure where dark bargains bring love and horror together.
Who will love it
Perfect if you love Gothic tales, dark bargains, wild plots and grand settings, from haunted forests to Florentine palaces and Ottoman camps. Readers who enjoy shocking turns, strong villains and passionate heroines will feel at home.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A lonely old shepherd accepts a stranger's bargain
- A dying count leaves a locked closet
- A funeral is broken by a grieving stranger
- Love blooms and the sunset brings a wolf
- A murder, a prison and a descending chair
- Bandits, a moneylender and a guilty countess
- A trial, a sunset execution and a deserted island
- News from Constantinople deepens Flora's sorrow
- Secrets, revenge and the price of bargains
Who’s who
- Fernand WagnerA shepherd made young by a dark bargain, he loves Nisida and fears each month's sunset, which turns him into a wolf.
- Nisida of RiverolaA proud, fierce woman believed to be deaf and mute, she loves her brother deeply and falls passionately in love with Wagner.
- Francisco, Count of RiverolaGentle and honorable, he inherits his father's title and a secret closet, and he wants to marry the servant girl Flora.
- Flora FrancatelliA humble, virtuous maid in the Riverola household, she loves Francisco and falls into the hands of the convent.
- Stephano VerrinaThe bold, cunning chief of Florence's bandits, he falls madly in love with Nisida and plots to possess her.
- Alessandro FrancatelliFlora's brother leaves Florence as an envoy's secretary, and news of his abandoned faith brings sorrow to his family.
- Isaachar ben SolomonA kind, wise moneylender in Florence's Alla Croce quarter, he is hunted by prejudice and unjustly accused of murder.
- Manuel d'OrsiniA handsome, ruined spendthrift who gambles, loves Countess Giulia, and finds a better side to himself under pressure.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 21 h 27 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 7 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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Wagner, il lupo mannaro
by George W. M. Reynolds · 1846
A shepherd of ninety accepts a monthly wolf curse in exchange for youth, wealth and knowledge.
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In short
Would you trade your old age for a second youth? In 1516, a ninety-year-old shepherd in Germany's Black Forest says yes, and the price is a curse that turns him into a wolf once a month.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A lonely old shepherd accepts a stranger's bargain
The book opens in January 1516 in the Black Forest, during a violent storm. Wagner, a shepherd of ninety, has lost his only family, his granddaughter Agnes, who has vanished. A haunted stranger with wild eyes knocks at his door and listens to his grief.
The stranger offers a new life. Wagner will be young, handsome, rich and full of knowledge, and in return he must serve the stranger for a year and a half and prey on the human race. That second condition means he will become a Wehr-Wolf, a man who turns into a savage wolf at sunset on the last day of every month. Wagner drinks a vial, falls unconscious, and wakes with a young man's body and a mind crowded with learning.
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What is Wagner, the Wehr-Wolf about?
It follows Fernand Wagner, an old shepherd who accepts youth and wealth from a stranger and is cursed to become a wolf each month. His story crosses Florence, the Inquisition, bandits, an island and the Ottoman court.
What is a Wehr-Wolf in the book?
A Wehr-Wolf is a man who, by a dark pact, turns into a savage wolf at sunset on the last day of every month and returns to human form at sunrise, without remembering what he did.
Is Wagner, the Wehr-Wolf a true story?
No, it is a Gothic story of supernatural bargains and a monthly wolf curse. Its settings include Florence and the Ottoman court.
The author
George W. M. Reynolds
1814–1879 · English novelist and journalist
George W. M. Reynolds was a British novelist and journalist, born in Sandwich, Kent, in 1814. He lived in France and later in London, where he died in 1879. He wrote The Mysteries of London, begun in 1844, and Wagner, the Wehr-Wolf, published in 1846–1847.
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