This is George du Maurier's tale of beautiful lost Trilby O'Ferrall -- graceful, ingenuous, and captive to the hypnotist Svengali, a creature so foul -- so nearly demonic -- that his name has become a part of our language.

Vile Svengali captivates the girl, transforming her from a beautiful but unmusical artists' model into an amazing operatic diva -- and, in process, binding her so tightly to his wants and needs that she becomes literally dependent on him for the breath of life. Trilby appeared in the years when Freud and similar thinkers were making the observation that not everything that happens in our hearts and minds is subject to our control -- nor even to our understanding. Du Maurier's observations on mesmerism, sexuality, and the occult haunt us even now.