Could the Pope have been secretly abducted? André Gide’s famous satire centres around a group of ingenious fraudsters, who convince their wealthy victims that the pontiff has been imprisoned by freemasons. Ranging from madcap farce to scenes of romance and even murder, it is a send-up of conventional morality, most clearly in the picaresque character of Lafcadio, whose notorious behaviour in the novel provoked outrage at the time of publication. Though in a more light-hearted vein than other works by Gide, this unusual novel still questions how individuals should live their life when faced with the rigid social and ethical structures that surround us.|

This famous satire follows a group of ingenious fraudsters who convince their wealthy victims that the pontiff has been imprisoned by freemasons in a madcap farce that questions conventional morality.

'An expertly constructed network of coincidence and error' The Irish Times

Set in the 1890s, André Gide's famous satire centres around a group of ingenious fraudsters ('The Millipede') who convince their wealthy victims that the pontiff has been imprisoned in the Vatican cellars, and a false Pope has been enthroned in his place. Posing as clergy, they con money by promising to obtain the true Pope's release and restoration.

The book features one of Gide's most memorable creations: the amoral Lafcadio, who in pushing a man from a moving train commits the ultimate motiveless crime.

Unavailable in the UK for 25 years, this scandalous, funny and highly original novel has been re-translated to mark the centenary of its publication.