The Sorrows of Satan (1895) is a masterpiece by Corelli's and it is a novel where her perspectives on society and religion are showcased the most clearly. What's more, is that it serves as a savage retort to her critics, who had criticized her past novel, Barabbas (1893). The novel's first pages are astonishingly gripping. Geoffrey Tempest, the narrator, draws his experience of destitution - misery that denies one of one's respect, as hunger transforms even the noblest person into a wrecked creature. As his last desire to make ends meet through journalism fails, Geoffrey is very close to ending it all when he gets a startling message from a Prince Lucio Rimânez. London, 1895, and Satan is at large. He is looking for somebody ethically strong enough to be able to withstand temptation, yet his chances at success seem bleak. Britain is a city of the corrupt. The aristocracy is monetarily and spiritually bankrupt; church pioneers no longer have any confidence in God; Victorian idealism has been ousted from writing and life; and sexual morality is being sabotaged by the vindictive principles of the 'New Woman'. Everything and everybody can be purchased, and it takes an extraordinarily high moral courage to oppose Satan's temptations.
Marie Corelli can be considered the best-selling author of the Victorian era. She may even be considered the first ever best-seller. She sold a greater number of books than both Arthur Conan Doyle and Rudyard Kipling put together. She was so renowned that calendars were sold with citations from her books, and a series of postcards representing her could be purchased by her devoted readership. Everybody read Corelli's books, from the most basic shopgirl to Oscar Wilde and Queen Victoria herself. A Romance of Two Worlds, her first book, was distributed in 1886, and it turned her into a best selling author in England and one of the favourites of Queen Victoria herself, who ended up ordering the complete collection of Marie's books. Despite the severe criticism, her books often managed to break sales records. Marie was the only writer asked to attend the coronation of Edward VII. Marie Corelli's books are inspired, magical, and philosophical. She volunteered to cure the universe's social ills. Among her best works are Barabbas (1893), Thelma (1887), The Expert Christian (1900), Wormwood (1890), The Mystery Power (1921), The Distresses of Satan (1895), The Existence Never-ending (1911), and Transient Power (1902). After World War I, her books were viewed as obsolete, and both interest and sales declined. She passed away in 1924.
