description: The young Robert Louis Stevenson suffered from repeated nightmares of living a double life, in which by day he worked as a respectable doctor and by night he roamed the back alleys of old-town Edinburgh. In three days of furious writing, he produced a story about his dream existence. His wife found it too gruesome, so he promptly burned the manuscript. In another three days, he wrote it again. "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" was published as a "shilling shocker" in 1886, and became an instant classic. In the first six months 40,000 copies were sold. Queen Victoria read it. Sermons and editorials were written about it. When Stevenson and his family visited America a year later, they were mobbed by reporters at the dock in New York City. Compulsively readable from its opening pages, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is still one of the best tales ever written about the divided self.
language: English
title: Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
titlecomplete: Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
characters: Mr Edward Hyde, Richard Enfield, Dr Hastie Lanyon, Mr Gabriel John Utterson, Poole (Jekyll & Hyde), Dr Henry Jekyll
genres: Science Fiction, Gothic, Mystery, Horror, School, Literature, Classics, 19th Century, Fantasy, Audiobook
ratings_count: 546315
places: England, United Kingdom, London, England
awards: awardedAt: 915177600000
name: Independent Publisher Book Award (IPPY)
category: Audio Fiction - Abridged
publisher: Addison-Wesley