Marie Corelli was born in England. She was the illegitimate daughter of the Scottish poet Charles Mackey and his servant. Marie was sent to a Parisian convent for her education. Ardath was one of Corelli's weirdest stories. The hero is in love with a supernatural angel. Since he is not yet worthy of a union with her, he travels back 7000 years to a fantastic world where his transformations allow him to experience numerous adventures. Ardath like most of Corelli's writings has been criticized for being melodramatic and over written. For other readers this over dramatic writing style gives the work character and makes it an enjoyable book to read....

Though disparaged by literary critics of her day, Marie Corelli was one of the most popular novelists of the late Victorian and Edwardian periods. Wormwood (1890) is a lurid tale of unrequited love, betrayal, vengeance, murder, suicide, and addiction. The novel recounts the degeneration of Gaston Beauvais, a promising young Parisian man who, betrayed by his fiancée and his best friend, falls prey to the seductive powers of absinthe. The impact of Gaston’s debauchery and addiction on himself, his family, and his friends is graphically recounted in this important contribution to the literature of fin de siècle decadence.

This Broadview edition includes a critical introduction and a generous selection of contextualizing documents, including excerpts from Corelli’s writings on art and literature, nineteenth-century degeneration theories, and clinical and artistic views on absinthe....