The Priestesses of Mylitta

Jane de La Vaudère

Translated by Brian Stableford

Exceedingly rare, even in the original French, and here translated for the first time into English by Brian Stableford, The Priestesses of Mylitta, first published in 1907, is Jane de La Vaudère’ s Babylon-set novel of decadence and amour. Revolving around the cult of the eponymous goddess, whose worship consists, in part, of newly married women delivering themselves to haphazard lovers, the story, which was very probably the author’s last completed work, is one of both tenderness and torture, brutal bloodshed and the adoration held in delicious kisses.

There is nothing half-hearted about The Priestesses of Mylitta, and no sign that La Vaudère was not as intensely emotionally involved with the project as she generally seemed to be; and the book, doused as it is with homicidal horrors and permeated with the incense of love, will surely delight all fans of her wonderful creations.

About the Author
Jane de La Vaudère was baptized Jeanne Scrive and was married to Camille Gaston Crapez, who began styling himself Crapez de La Vaudère after inheriting the Château de La Vaudère from his mother. Her prolific literary work is very various but she was assimilated to the Decadent Movement firstly because of two scandalously scabrous Parisian novels, Les Demi-Sexes (1897) and Les Androgynes (1903), and, more pertinently, because of a series of accounts of moeurs antiques, some of which—notably Le Mystère de Kama (1901)—set new standards of excess.

Paperback, 224 pages
Release date, February 1, 2022
ISBN-13: 978-1-64525-089-0
Price: US$17.50

Hardcover, 226 pages. Limited edition of 100 copies
Release date, February 1, 2022
Price: US$33.00