The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom — Complete

Smollett follows the cold-blooded schemer Ferdinand, Count Fathom, as he cheats, seduces, and betrays his way across Europe in one of literature’s early studies of a charming villain. By turns picaresque and Gothic, it includes a famous scene of terror in a forest hut that helped shape the horror novel. It is a bracing, cynical, and vividly told rogue’s progress.