by Theophile Gautier

The rapid apparition of Nyssia had dazzled his eyes like the keen zigzag of a lightning flash. He beheld her floating before him in a luminous whirlwind, and felt that never through all his life could he banish that image from his vision. His love had grown to vastness; its flower had suddenly burst, like those plants which open their blossoms with a clap of thunder. To master his passion were henceforth a thing impossible.

She was the most beautiful woman on Earth -- but Nyssia's husband, King Candaules, could not flaunt his wife's beauty, because tradition and decorum demanded she wear a veil.

This drove King Candaules quite literally mad.

Enter Gyges, who falls in love with the Queen -- and enter with him drama . . . and tragedy.

The remarkable French author of One of Cleopatra's Nights adapted this tale from the pages of Herodotus into this exciting, entertaining, and erotic novel.