Charwoman's Shadow

In 16th-century Spain, an alchemist named Anselm makes a terrifying discovery: the secret of separating a man from his shadow. But when his charwoman accidentally inherits his shadow in a moment of carelessness, the consequences spiral beyond any spellbook's remedy. The shadow develops its own ambitions, pursuing the woman through the streets of Seville, threatening to expose the alchemist's forbidden researches to the Holy Office, and revealing truths that were meant to stay buried. As Anselm scrambles to restore order before the Church's witch-hunters arrive, he must reckon with what it truly means to be followed by the darker parts of oneself. Dunsany weaves alchemy, forest sorcery, and the weight of ancient Spain into a tale that operates as both a wildly inventive fantasy and something closer to moral fable. The shadow, once lost, becomes the truest character in the book, a dark mirror showing us what we cannot escape. For lovers of fairy tales that have teeth, this is Dunsany at his most mischievous and his most profound.