November 15, 2011
Genres: Classics, Horror
Hardcover $28.95. ISBN 978-1-68057-095-3
Trade paperback $15.99. ISBN 978-1-68057-093-9
Ebook $4.99. ISBN 978-1-68057-094-6
286 pages
One of the first werewolf novels ever written!
A lost classic from the author of The Three Musketeers and The Man in the Iron Mask.
What’s the next best thing to having a walking wolf grant your wishes? Would it be enough to take revenge on those who oppose you suffice? To Thibault the shoemaker, that pact is worth more than gold. Or at least more than the single, dark hairs on his handsome, youthful head. What could go wrong when one can simply wish their enemies out of the way?
Poor mistreated Thibault overlooks his blessings to take revenge upon a local lord who wrongs him. And his quest for vengeance is in no way a straight line. Things seldom go as planned and more often there are other forces at work in both the natural and supernatural fabric of the story’s reality. Each desire is a step further and further from the light. And each wish for vengeance ignites a single hair upon his head and binds him to his master, the black wolf. Can Thibault be redeemed before he is completely consumed by his hatred?
Alexandre Dumas is one of the most respected and successful authors of French literature. He began writing plays after working as a scribe for the Duke of Orleans during the 1830 revolution. Dumas was a prolific writer, best known for novels such as The Three Musketeers, The Man in the Iron Mask, and The Count of Monte Cristo. His work has been translated into more than 100 languages and adapted into a multitude of films.
"A complex and nuanced novel that, upon repeated readings, yields more insight and entertainment even after more than one hundred and sixty years."—Jonathan Maberry, New York Times bestselling author of The Wolfman
Thibault is a shoemaker with a good life. And he should have been happy with his life, but his soul was marred by envy of his neighbors' good fortune.
This attracts the black wolf, who was hiding from the Baron and his hunting dogs. The black wolf makes a pact with the shoemaker, sealed by exchanging rings. Thibault’s silver ring for the wolf’s gold one.
His first wish after an angry confrontation with the Baron is to take out the Baron and his chief pricker, Marcotte. Marcotte drowns, but with the horror of what he had wrought, Thibault uses another wish to save the Baron. Once he discovers what he can do by sorcery and continues to use it, his hair slowly changes from black to fiery red, a pack of wolves starts doing his bidding, and he eventually becomes a werewolf.
Although considered a first werewolf tale, this is not a normal one. Don’t expect a story where a man is bitten and becomes a monster when the full moon rises—that is what the movies tell us. Instead, this is a novel of how an envious man sells his soul and slowly, but surely makes the transformation into a dark beast in his heart until in the end, he becomes a werewolf. So, if you want to read a classic horror story that is also a love story, a fantasy, and one of redemption for your Halloween/autumn read, this book will fill your reading time quite well.
I give The Wolf Leader 4 1/2 sheep.
Pamela Kinney
Alexandre Dumas, also known as Alexandre Dumas père, was born July 24, 1802, in Villers-Cotterêts, France.
Born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, he adopted the Dumas family name from his grandmother, a Dominican slave. Despite encountering societal prejudice because he was one-quarter black, Dumas managed to break into French literary circles and became one of the most respected and successful authors of French literature.
He began writing plays after working as a scribe for the Duke of Orleans (later named King Louis Philippe) during the 1830 revolution. Dumas was a prolific writer, best known for novels such as The Three Musketeers, The Man in the Iron Mask, and The Count of Monte Cristo. His work has been translated into more than 100 languages and adapted into a multitude of films.
After suffering a stroke, he died on December 5, 1870, in Puys, France, and was buried in the family vault. In 2002, he was exhumed and reinterred in the hallowed Pantheon in Paris, among other French luminaries.
