Rappaccini's Daughter

by Charles Tidler

Based on a Nathaniel Hawthorne story published in 1844, Rappaccini’s Daughter is a grim, cautionary tale about how when the old attempt to manipulate and control the young, disaster soon follows. The brilliant professor Giacomo Rappaccini plays God with the laws of nature and builds a secret garden in his own image. He sacrifices his only child, a dutiful daughter, to experiments with poisons, rendering her body invulnerable to pain, and so forever youthful, innocent and alone. A young student, a ne’er-do-well and spendthrift named Giovanni discovers the garden. He falls in love with the daughter, whose name, of course, is Beatrice. Rappaccini sets a trap to lure this new Adam, the last piece of the scientific puzzle, into his poisonous paradise.

Paperback

Published March 10, 2006