BEATRICE'S SPELL The Enduring Legend of Beatrice Cenci.

Hardback. Beatrice Cenci was executed in Rome in September 1599: she was said to be 16years of age, and was hauntingly beautiful. Her crime was the murder of her father, a member of one of the greatest Roman families, but his cruel treatment of her, including incestuous rape, moved the people of the city to take her side. Weeping crowds lined the street, and a special mass is still said in Rome on the anniversary of her death. She was at once innocent and guilty, at once the victim and the perpetrator of appalling crimes. In this compelling study, the author takes on the challenge of bringing Beatrice to life, and of tracing her power over those who tried to resurrect her, from the trageddy of Shelley to the novels of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville, from the sculpture of Harriet Hosmer and the photographs of Julia Margaret Cameron to the desperate drama of Antonin Artaud. Her story is one of lust, passion and violence. With 21 illus., Source Notes and Index. 196pp. 8vo. From the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. F. in F. dw.