The novel “The Serapion Brothers” by the famous German romantic writer E.T.A. Hoffmann (1776–1822) is a cycle of narratives united by the framing story of young writers - the Serapion brothers. Incredible events, vampires, necromancers, mysterious beauties come to life on the pages of a book that has not been completely published in Russian translation for more than 70 years.

The elderly learned lady Mlle Scuderi, a writer of gallant novels, a member of the Madame de Maintenon and Louis XIV, turned out to be a witness to the murder. A tender heart and inner feeling assure her that the accused is innocent. All that remains is to convince the judges of the Chamber of Fire and the king himself of this...