The Strange Visitation

On a storm-lashed Christmas Eve, Marie Corelli's The Strange Visitation opens in stark contrast to the season's promise of peace, setting sacred reflection against earthly unrest. From that solemn beginning, the story turns satirically toward Josiah McNason, a ruthless millionaire whose wealth has made him powerful, feared, and emotionally barren. Drawn by a mischievous goblin into a nightmarish church of green light, mock sermons, and grotesque laughter, he is forced to witness a savage parody of religion, respectability, and self-satisfied "goodness." As the goblins expose hypocrisy, vanity, and the emptiness of social success, McNason is shown the lives he has neglected and the love he has sacrificed for money. A vision of the woman he once rejected reveals a warm, contented home he can never claim, while another scene shows the suffering of an invalid and the devotion of those struggling for help he withholds. Between demonic mockery and heavenly vision, the tale becomes a Christmas moral fable about false piety, selfishness, and the redemptive power of compassion. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.