Alzira's Shroud

A forbidden love. A holy man's fall. A woman whose passion reaches beyond the grave.

Set in the decadent Paris of Louis XV, Alzira's Shroud is one of Aluísio de Azevedo's most haunting and atmospheric novels: a dark tale of desire, religious ecstasy, temptation, and psychological collapse.

Angelo, a young priest raised in near-total seclusion, has been carefully preserved from the corruptions of the world. To his spiritual guardian, he is meant to become a living proof of purity - a soul untouched by vice, ambition, or sensual passion. But when Angelo appears before the glittering and corrupt court of Paris, his beauty and innocence awaken dangerous fascination. Among those captivated is Alzira, a celebrated courtesan known for her coldness, her wit, and her fatal power over men.

For the first time in her life, Alzira loves. For the first time in his life, Angelo desires.

What follows is a feverish drama of conscience and obsession, where sacred vows collide with forbidden longing, and where death itself may not be enough to extinguish passion. Blending Gothic romance, historical fiction, religious symbolism, and psychological intensity, Alzira's Shroud reveals a lesser-known but unforgettable side of one of Brazil's greatest nineteenth-century novelists.

This edition presents the novel in a carefully prepared English translation, with translator's notes, a preface, and an afterword for modern readers.