St Leon

"St. Leon", describes the story of a 16th century French nobleman who obtains the gift of eternal life and the philosopher's stone. However, the gifts he receives, which give him unlimited riches and powers, relegate him to the exclusion of his family and humanity as a whole. The protagonist, transformed into an alchemist dedicated to the dark arts, wanders through a Europe in the midst of a clash of religions and civilisations, from France to Switzerland, from Italy to Spain and Hungary, driven by a love for humanity that constantly clashes with prejudice and superstition. At a crucial moment in the history of European culture, Godwin revives the foundations of eighteenth-century thought, without neglecting the suggestions of the emerging Romantic sensibility.