The Marquis de Sade's fiction has electrified generations of readers and earned him a scandalous reputation. But Sade was a moralist above all. In these baroque, salacious tales, aristocrats are caught in a web of incestuous misunderstandings, village priests deceive godly parishioners, and modest housewives satisfy immodest appetites. Comic and tragic by turns, all pose a profound challenge to convention. These maliciously entertaining stories reveal France's infamous libertine as an author whose range and insight can still astonish, centuries after he first shocked polite society. Part of the Pushkin Press Classics series: timeless storytelling by icons of literature, hand-picked from around the globe.