
In a richly appointed Parisian apartment, a striking society lady and a solemn young aristocrat find themselves locked in a silent battle of longing. The room glitters with marble statues, goldfish, and fragrant hyacinths, while the couple paces, their eyes flashing with unspoken desire. When the young man declares that his passion threatens to ruin his studies and reputation, the tension between personal yearning and propriety erupts.
She, torn between the comforts of a respectable marriage and a love that awakens a dormant heart, wrestles with the notion of becoming more than a decorative doll for her husband. Their dialogue drips with poetic pleading, invoking heaven and mercy as they contemplate a choice that could shatter their worlds. The story invites listeners into a world of elegant decadence, inner turmoil, and the timeless question of whether happiness belongs to the self or to the roles we play for others.
Language
en
Duration
~12 hours (695K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive
Release date
2011-07-19
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1836–1916
A bestselling 19th-century German writer and former actress, she is best remembered for The Vulture Maiden, better known as Geier-Wally, a dramatic Alpine novel that inspired many later adaptations. Her life moved between the stage and the page, giving her fiction a vivid, theatrical energy.
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