An extensive collection of “terrible” French prose gives a fairly wide panorama of Gothic literature. It is opened by the repeatedly translated and published “Devil in Love” by Jacques Cazot, the same one who is famous for his prophecy about the horrors of the French Revolution, and completes two novels by Guy de Maupassant. Among the authors are both writers well known in Russia: Borel, Gauthier, Gérard de Nerval, and completely unknown. Many stories are published for the first time. I would like to draw the attention of readers to two early works of Balzac, which are usually lost behind his monumental epics. The author of the book and the author of the introductory article - C. Zenkin, one of the largest connoisseurs of French literature in Russia today; and this can serve as a guarantee of the quality of the publication The collection includes the best "Gothic" works of French prose of the last century. Among the authors: J. Casot, C. A. Bertou, S. Nodier, P. Borel, S. Slave, O. de Balzac, J. de Nerval, T. Gauthier, P. Merimee, J. Barbe d'Oreville, G. Boucher de Perth, K. Vignon, O. Ville de Lille-Adan, G. de Maupassant . Most of the collection consists of texts translated into Russian for the first time .