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'Thais'

Anatole France

Thais

Series: Romantic classic books

Set in decadent 4th-century Egypt, this novel is a tantalizing classic of forbidden desire and spiritual undoing. Paphnuce, a fiercely ascetic monk, leaves his desert cell on a holy mission: to convert Alexandria's most celebrated and voluptuous courtesan, Thaïs. But as he strips away her life of sin and locks her in a convent, a dark transformation begins. While the beautiful courtesan finds salvation, the monk becomes utterly consumed by erotic madness, haunted by visions of her past pleasures. A masterpiece of psychological tension, it exposes the explosive clash between the spirit and the flesh.