Arthur Machen

The Three Impostors

Two flâneurs in Victorian London get caught up with the members of a secret society and their search for a rare Roman coin.

Read it as a newsletter for $9.99

We've broken this book up into 26 short emails. Subscribe to this newsletter today, and you can finish it by Monday, February 17, 2025!

Description

Two idlers in London are sauntering in the streets when they pick up a coin dropped by a fleeing man. They keep meeting three persons, each time in a different disguise, who recount lurid tales. They seem to be looking for a spectacled man who regrets working with them, and has run away with a valuable coin …

This novel is a Gothic horror classic, and takes the form of an episodic novel, with each chapter containing a story recounted by one of the three impostors. It contains “Novel of the Black Seal” and “Novel of the White Powder,” popular stories which have been widely anthologized.