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Audiobook editionPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the fortune that opens every door also puts your soul at risk?
Geoffrey Tempest is almost penniless when a vast inheritance changes his life. In Victorian London, the young writer finds a guide in Prince Lucio Rimânez, a handsome stranger with perfect manners and an unexplained sadness. Behind the prince's polished charm stands the Devil himself.
With Lucio beside him, Tempest enters a world of grand houses, fashionable parties, and titled company. His pursuit of status draws him toward Lady Sibyl Elton, while the honest novelist Mavis Clare stands apart. Marie Corelli turns this Faustian tale into a fierce attack on greed, flattery, and talent sold for profit.
What you’ll discover
- A fortune with stakes Follow a struggling writer as sudden wealth tests the kind of man he wants to become.
- The prince behind temptation Meet a charming, bitter Satan whose sadness makes him more than a figure of simple horror.
- Society beneath the glitter Enter fashionable rooms where money buys welcome and ambition draws Tempest toward a glittering marriage.
- A writer beyond price Discover Mavis Clare, whose honest work and simple life stand against the corruption around her.
- The price of a soul Feel the force of a dramatic moral fable about wealth, temptation, and the choices that matter.
Who will love it
This is for readers who love Faustian tales, Victorian satire of money and fame, and stories of temptation told in a confiding voice.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Fortune arrives with a shadow
- Charm makes a warning seem harmless
- Money buys praise but not joy
- A careless wager carries terrible stakes
- Geoffrey treats marriage as a purchase
- Honest work offers another kind of success
- Splendour hides an unsettling message
- Comfort lets Geoffrey ignore other people's pain
- Wealth leaves a hidden choice
Who’s who
- Geoffrey TempestA penniless young author who inherits five million pounds and wants fame, revenge and a beautiful wife, and tells the story himself.
- Lucio RimânezA rich, handsome and mocking prince of ancient lineage who offers Geoffrey friendship, guidance and every worldly pleasure.
- Lady Sibyl EltonThe cold, beautiful daughter of an impoverished earl, raised to be sold in marriage and doubting that love exists.
- Mavis ClareA gentle, brilliant novelist who earns her living by her pen, loves her readers and laughs at hostile critics.
- The Earl of EltonSibyl's father, a debt-ridden nobleman who fawns on rich men and hopes to marry money himself.
- Diana ChesneyA warm, lively American heiress living with the Eltons, who hopes to find a place in English society.
- AmielLucio's silent, catlike valet, whose dark face and odd habits disturb Geoffrey and the hotel servants.
- John CarringtonGeoffrey's old college friend, nicknamed Boffles, who lends him fifty pounds and sends the prince to his door.
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The Sorrows of Satan
by Marie Corelli · 1895
A starving writer in London inherits five million pounds and gains a charming prince for a friend.
Challenging10–20 hours to read20 languages
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“Do you know what it means to be poor?”
In short
Do you know what it means to be truly poor? Geoffrey Tempest does.
The Sorrows of Satan at a glance
- Reading time
- About 10 h 35 min8 h 25 min fast, 12 h 35 min slow
- Length
- 151,000 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- First published
- 1895by Marie Corelli
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 starving writer receives three life-changing letters
The story opens in a bitter London winter, and the voice is that of Geoffrey Tempest. He looks back and says he writes only to tell what happened. He begins with poverty, the kind that strips a man of pride, clean linen and hope.
A publisher has just told him his book is too critical of society, and that a writer should never blame the people who buy books. Geoffrey refuses to write something indecent only to sell. He walks home hungry and promises his landlady the rent, though he has no idea how to pay it.
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Details
- First published
- 1895
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 12 h 5 min
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Corelli, Marie. The Sorrows of Satan. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-sorrows-of-satan.
Corelli, M. (2026). The sorrows of Satan. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-sorrows-of-satan (Original work published 1895)
Corelli, Marie. The Sorrows of Satan. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-sorrows-of-satan.
@book{corelli2026sorrows,
author = {Corelli, Marie},
title = {The Sorrows of Satan},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-sorrows-of-satan},
note = {First published 1895}
}
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What is The Sorrows of Satan about?
A starving London writer, Geoffrey Tempest, inherits five million pounds and befriends a charming prince, Lucio Rimânez. His new wealth brings fame, a bride and a country house, and tests his faith, pride and conscience.
Who is Lucio Rimânez in The Sorrows of Satan?
Lucio is a handsome, widely travelled prince who becomes Geoffrey's banker and guide. He is witty, generous with money and cynical about human motives, and Geoffrey notices odd signs around him that he cannot explain.
Who is Mavis Clare in the novel?
Mavis Clare is a gifted, successful novelist living near Willowsmere Court. She earns her fame by honest work, feeds doves named after her critics, and stands as the opposite of the world of bought reputations.
The author
Marie Corelli
1855–1924 · British novelist
Marie Corelli was an English novelist and one of the best-selling authors of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, at her height outselling most of her famous contemporaries. The Sorrows of Satan, her 1895 tale of a devil's bargain in literary London, is often called one of the world's first modern bestsellers.
“Do you know what it means to be poor?”
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