4 h 57 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 4 h 57 minPaperback · 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
You will enjoy this if you like ghost stories told with a cool head, sharp portraits of French life, dark jokes about marriage and money, and tales you can finish in one sitting.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A familiar home becomes unsettling
- Experiments deepen the fear of control
- The unseen presence gains a name
- Sympathy can sit beside carelessness
- Desire speaks through ordinary conversation
- The dying reveal the living
- Pressure strips away ordinary comforts
- Different voices expose the same doubts
- Listen for what people leave out
Who’s who
- The narrator of the HorlaA well-off landowner on the Seine who writes a diary as an unseen presence begins to command his sleep, his house and his will.
- Dr. ParentA doctor interested in hypnosis who shows the narrator how one person can plant orders in another's mind.
- Madame SabléThe narrator's cousin, who is put into a trance and then arrives to borrow five thousand francs without knowing why.
- Léopold RenardAn upholsterer on trial who tells the court a long, self-serving tale about his favourite fishing spot and a quarrel.
- Mother ClochetteA lame, bearded seamstress who tells village tales to a child and keeps a private story that her doctor later shares.
- RapetA miserly village nurse who sits with the dying, drives hard bargains and wants her fee more than anything.
- Ulrich KunsiA young guide who spends his first winter snowed in at an Alpine inn with an old companion and a dog.
- Jacques RandelA strong young carpenter who walks the roads for weeks looking for any work and meets suspicion at every turn.
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The Horla in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
The Horla
by Guy de Maupassant · 1886
A Seine landowner watches a tall ship pass, then senses an unseen presence drinking his water and reading his books.
Easy read2–5 hours to read20 languages
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“Do we see even a hundred-thousandth of what exists?”
In short
Picture a man who locks his bedroom door, sleeps with a full carafe of water beside him, and wakes to find it empty. He cannot explain who drank the water.
The Horla at a glance
- Reading time
- About 2 h 50 min2 h 15 min fast, 3 h 25 min slow
- Length
- 40,800 words
- Library level
- Easy short sentences, plain words
- First published
- 1886by Guy de Maupassant
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A contented man on the Seine falls ill
The Horla opens as a diary, and the first entry is pure delight. It is the eighth of May, and the narrator lies on the grass before his family house, shaded by a huge plane tree. He loves the place because his roots are there.
Around eleven, a line of ships passes his gate, and among them is a white Brazilian three-masted vessel. He salutes it without knowing why. That detail will matter later.
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Which edition is right for me
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- 15-minute summary
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Details
- First published
- 1886
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 3 h 15 min
- Level
- Easy read
Cite this edition
Maupassant, Guy de. The Horla. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-horla.
Maupassant, G. de. (2026). The Horla. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-horla (Original work published 1886)
Maupassant, Guy de. The Horla. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-horla.
@book{maupassant2026horla,
author = {Maupassant, Guy de},
title = {The Horla},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-horla},
note = {First published 1886}
}
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What is The Horla about?
It is a diary kept by a landowner on the Seine who falls ill and senses an unseen being living in his house. He tests his sanity with experiments and tries to understand what is happening to him.
What does the word Horla mean?
The narrator writes down the name after he hears it in his mind. The text gives no definition. It stands for the invisible being he believes has come to dominate humankind.
What other stories are in this collection?
Besides the title tale, it holds a hunter's memory, The Hole, Saved, Clochette, The Marquis de Fumerol, The Sign, The Devil, The Kings, In the Woods, A Family, Joseph, The Inn and The Wanderer.
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.
“Do we see even a hundred-thousandth of what exists?”
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