The Gadfly eBook

The Gadfly, first published in 1897, is one of the most widely read English-language novels of the early twentieth century, beloved across Europe and Asia for its themes of revolution, romance, and moral struggle.

The Gadfly is set in 1840s Italy, at a time when the country was chafing under Austrian rule. The titular character is a charming, witty writer of pointed political satires who finds himself running with a crowd of revolutionaries. The plot develops as the revolutionaries struggle against the government and as the Gadfly struggles with a mysterious hatred of the Church, and of a certain Cardinal.

The novel, with its complex themes of loyalty, romance, revolution, and struggle against both establishment and religion, was very popular in its day both in its native Ireland and other countries like Russia and China. In Russia, the book was so popular that it became required reading. Since its publication it has also been adapted into film, opera, theater, and ballet, and its popularity spurred Voynich to write sequels and prequels.

Perfect for readers who love sweeping historical fiction filled with political intrigue, forbidden romance, and moral complexity. Voynich masterfully weaves together personal vendettas and revolutionary fervor against the backdrop of Italy's fight for independence, creating an unforgettable tale of passion, betrayal, and the price of freedom.

The source for this public-domain ebook is Standard Ebooks (standardebooks.org). Ebooks from other sources often have typos, inconsistent spelling, missing accent marks, and missing punctuation. Ebooks from Standard Ebooks are proofread line by line against a scan of the original printed pages, then proofread again from cover to cover. They are also formatted and typeset following a professional-grade style manual, resulting in new editions supporting state-of-the-art ereader technology: automatic hyphenation, popup footnotes, complete and consistent metadata, high-resolution and scalable vector graphics, and ereader-compatible tables of contents. All of this makes the finished ebooks accurate, functional, and beautiful, a pleasure to read. (Waking Lion Press is not affiliated with or endorsed by Standard Ebooks.)