This is a great story for Halloween reading, but I’ve avoided it since Junior High because it’s horror – or that’s its reputation.  And I’ve always been  nervous about horror. Then there are the movie versions which I also avoided for the same reason.  Besides, it took me ages (and ages) to appreciate 19th century English literature because the language is so different. Usually, translated works are so much easier to read because they use a more contemporary form of English.  

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The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde 
by Robert Lewis Stevenson 
1886  / (141 pages – 1st edition) 
Read by Paapa Essiedu
Rating: 10/ classic gothic horror (novella) 
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But here it is at Audible! Yay!  I could hardly resist, this being Halloween and all. And then there’s  a “November is Novellas” challenge by Cathy 247 so I’ll have one more for that. I do enjoy a good novella – the essence is all concentrated and understated. 

Anyway, Gabriel Utterson, a legal investigator, gets curious and then involved in the strange doings of his friend Dr Jekyll and a guy named Mr Hyde. Utterson heard a tale from his cousin, Enfield, and it looks like it might lead to the blackmail of Jekyll, but Jekyll wants him to back off.  Okay but then one of Utterson’s clients gets beaten to death and Utterson has evidence it was Hyde but then suspects Jekyll.  And so the story goes with evidence piling up and the doctor taking some kind of drug or elixir or drug for his nerves.  There’s a great deal of tension as Jekyll has to do battle with himself. Excellent story – kind of like Gogol’s The Nose in some way, but I’m not too sure why.

Just fyi, but really I looked it up for mine; I had thought Stevenson was American – ha!  He did spend a fair amount of time in the States and I think I visited some of the several sites in California which are named for him. Stevenson’s life was very interesting: 

Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as Treasure Island, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Kidnapped and A Child’s Garden of Verses” (everyone had that last book.  My copy was a Little Golden Book. ) 

“Born and educated in Edinburgh, Stevenson suffered from serious bronchial trouble for much of his life, but continued to write prolifically and travel widely in defiance of his poor health. As a young man, he mixed in London literary circles, receiving encouragement from Andrew Lang, Edmund Gosse,[1] Leslie Stephen and W. E. Henley, the last of whom may have provided the model for Long John Silver in Treasure Island. In 1890, he settled in Samoa where, alarmed at increasing European and American influence in the South Sea islands, his writing turned away from romance and adventure fiction toward a darker realism. He died of a stroke in his island home in 1894 at age 44.[2]

“A celebrity in his lifetime, Stevenson’s critical reputation has fluctuated since his death, though today his works are held in general acclaim. In 2018, he was ranked, just behind Charles Dickens, as the 26th-most-translated author in the world.[3]”

There’s much more about Stevenson at: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Louis_Stevenson

And here’s about this story: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_Case_of_Dr_Jekyll_and_Mr_Hyde