Monsieur de Phocas

A pale aristocrat leaves a manuscript on a writer’s desk, gives up his borrowed name, and departs for Egypt. The pages explain why. The Duke of Fréneuse, travelling as Monsieur de Phocas, is haunted by a green gleam he has seen in gems, painted eyes, ancient statues, and living faces. He searches museums, theatres, salons, and foreign cities for it. Then the English artist Claudius Ethal offers to cure him. Ethal’s studio holds masks, wax figures, poisons, and an influence that tightens each time Fréneuse tries to escape. Around them move Izé Kranile, jewelers, dancers, collectors, and the exquisite monsters of a society that treats corruption as an art. The manuscript is a confession, a catalogue, and a fever dream. Every beautiful object may contain the eye that is watching him.