A 100-page Gothic tale embedded in Genlis's 1782 novel 'Adele et Theodore', the 'Histoire de la duchesse de C***' tells the story of an Italian duchess secretly imprisoned by her husband for nine years in a dungeon under his palace after he drugs her, simulates her death, and buries a waxen figure in her place. In a footnote to the 1804 edition of the novel, Genlis explains that the story is based on the experiences of the Italian Duchess of Cerifalco, whom Genlis met in Rome in 1776. The duchess's tale quickly became so popular that Genlis published it in a separate edition in 1783; as...