Dr Jekyll has rived a life of high-minded respectability and scientific aspiration among friends for many years, so when, gradually and inexplicably, he begins to withdraw from society and presents his lawyer with a bizarre new will, his associates are baffled and suspect blackmail. The key to the mystery appears to lie with the sinister Mr Hyde, who has begun to stalk the foggy streets of London, producing an inexpressible terror in those he encounters, and exerting a powerful control over the helpless Dr Jekyll.

Dr Jekyll has rived a life of high-minded respectability and scientific aspiration among friends for many years, so when, gradually and inexplicably, he begins to withdraw from society and presents his lawyer with a bizarre new will, his associates are baffled and suspect blackmail. The key to the mystery appears to lie with the sinister Mr Hyde, who has begun to stalk the foggy streets of London, producing an inexpressible terror in those he encounters, and exerting a powerful control over the helpless Dr Jekyll.

Inspired by a feverish dream and composed in a matter of days, Stevenson’s classic horror fantasy has held an unparalleled fascination for generations of readers. Whilst playing on the peculiarly Victorian fears ofanimality and regression, and contemporary anxiety over the hubristic advance of science, Stevenson contrives to create an ambience of pure tragedy. The result is a tale as involving and poignant to a reader today as at its time of writing, and a shocking warning of the savage beast sleeping within us all.

Foreword by Helen Dunmore

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

 Notes

Biographical note