Les Enfants Terribles

First published in 1929, this novel follows the siblings Paul and Elisabeth, who turn their shared room into a closed theater of dares they call the Game. After Paul is struck by a snowball thrown by the admired Dargelos, the pair withdraw further from school and ordinary time, living among treasures, costumes, and invented rules. Gerard, a devoted outsider, and later Agathe, who resembles Dargelos, are pulled into the Room and become pieces in the siblings' private plot. The book is a psychological tale of incestuous intensity and theatrical enclosure, not a memoir of Cocteau's circle.

Bound in dark green cloth with a design in black and gold by Sue Bradbury. Dark blue endleaves. Page tops stained dark blue. Dark blue slipcase. Plus 62pp of drawings.