The Power of Mesmerism: A Highly Erotic Narrative of Voluptuous Facts and Fancies

A notorious Victorian novelty book that caused gasps and blushes upon its 1891 appearance, this is a slyly sensational tale of the Etheridge family and the dangerous arts Frank picked up in Germany. Mesmerism the Victorians believed in, but this novel puts it to decidedly wicked purposes: the hypnotic arts become a tool for crossing every boundary that respectable society pretended didn't exist. The narrative follows Frank's return to Brackley Hall, where he employs his magnetic powers to unravel the inhibitions of those around him, most provocatively his sister Ethel. Dream sequences, trances, and ever-more-explicit encounters blur the line between supernatural influence and genuine desire. As historical curiosity, it offers a fascinating window into the repressed Victorian imagination, where the very act of imagining such transgressive things felt almost as naughty as doing them. It's not great literature, but as a document of forbidden Victorian fantasies, it remains oddly compelling.