Desiderio, an employee of the city under a bizarre reality attack from Doctor Hoffman's mysterious machines, has fallen in love with Albertina, the Doctor's daughter. But Albertina, a beautiful woman made of glass, seems only to appear to him in his dreams. Meeting on his adventures a host of cannibals, centaurs and acrobats, Desiderio must battle against unreality and the warping of time and space to be with her, as the Doctor reduces Desiderio's city to a chaotic state of emergency - one ridden with madness, crime and sexual excess.
A satirical tale of magic and sex, The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman is a dazzling quest for truth, love and identity.
ANGELA CARTER (1940-1992) was an English novelist, short story writer, and journalist. She wrote nine novels and numerous short stories, as well as nonfiction, radio plays, and the screenplay for Neil Jordan’s 1984 movie The Company of Wolves, based on her story of the same name. Carter won numerous literary awards, traveled and taught widely in the United States, and lived in London.
Read more