{"product_id":"2026200011305-secondhand-the-beetle","title":"The Beetle","description":"\u003cp\u003eEdition: First Edition Thus\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition remarks:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBook: Fair\u003cbr\u003eJacket: No dust jacket - some marks on spine and corners\u003cbr\u003ePages: Tanning and foxing\u003cbr\u003eCondition remarks: Binding loose but intact.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the gaslit shadows of Victorian London, a shapeshifting ancient Egyptian entity begins a terrifying campaign of revenge and obsession against a rising British politician, ensnaring all who cross its path in a web of supernatural horror. Richard Marsh's The Beetle, first published in 1897 and outselling Bram Stoker's Dracula in its debut year, chronicles the harrowing ordeal of multiple narrators who each encounter the monstrous creature and struggle to comprehend — and survive — its unearthly power. The novel masterfully weaves together themes of imperialism, gender transgression, and the West's deep-seated fear of the ancient and unknowable East, all rendered through Marsh's propulsive, breathless prose.\n\nA landmark of late-Victorian Gothic fiction, The Beetle stands as a testament to an era gripped by anxieties over empire, sexuality, and the limits of rational science. Marsh constructs his narrative through four distinct first-person voices, each offering a fragmented and increasingly desperate perspective that mirrors the chaos the creature unleashes. Sophisticated in its psychological tension yet relentlessly gripping in its pacing, this novel rewards readers who dare to ask what lurks beneath the civilised surface of modernity — and whether it can ever truly be destroyed.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secondhand Stock","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49161041936603,"sku":"2026200011305-SECONDHAND","price":50.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/061dc723-6476-4bfb-b1cf-e5eebe7974a6.png?v=1787189603","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/2026200011305-secondhand-the-beetle","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}