The isle of lies: Classic Book Guide and Free Edition
The isle of lies: author and translator credits, catalogue synopsis, subjects and links to the Gutenberg reading formats.
The isle of lies is catalogued by Project Gutenberg with author credits for Shiel, M. P. (Matthew Phipps) (1865–1947).
Catalogue synopsis
Project Gutenberg supplies this automated synopsis of the opening text:
"The isle of lies" by M. P. Shiel is a novel written in the early 20th century. It follows Professor Reid’s account of Dr. Lepsius, a brilliant but unscrupulous scientist who steals an ancient stele, then breeds and raises a child in isolation on a Hebridean island to create a mind capable of deciphering it. The story centers on the manufactured prodigy Hannibal, the desperate father who built his world on deceptions, and the crisis that erupts when the boy first meets the real world. The opening of the book recounts Lepsius’s daring theft of a Coptic-inscribed stele from an Abyssinian island monastery, a raid that sparks violence and scandal. Back in London, unable to decode the last, crucial words, he vows to “make a man” who can: he marries Molly O’Hara, and after her death in childbirth, raises their son Hannibal on the island of Shunter within a carefully faked “world” that exalts an idealized “Man.” Nineteen years on, Hannibal proves preternaturally skilled yet emotionally stunted; when given the stele he reads nearly all but fails at the final three words, asks for time, and disappears the same day as a yacht touches the island. A shift to the yacht’s maid, Jeanne Auvache, shows the runaway youth secretly boarding, binding and gagging her, and urgently demanding marriage and secrecy—revealing his strange innocence and the first collision between the lie-built prodigy and society.
Book and edition facts
- Title: The isle of lies
- Author credits: Shiel, M. P. (Matthew Phipps) (1865–1947)
- Catalogue language: English
Catalogue subjects
- Speculative fiction
- Young men -- Fiction
Read this edition
View the complete Gutenberg catalogue record. Project Gutenberg identifies this edition as public domain in the United States; that designation does not establish its copyright status in every country.
Source notes
Catalogue metadata is public domain and is supplied through Gutendex, which imports Gutenberg's machine-readable catalogue. The automated synopsis is source-supplied, not an independently verified review. Author dates above describe the credited people; no ebook release date is presented as the book's original publication date.
Sources
More in Books & Authors
Keep reading
