La mandragore

A royal household is thrown into turmoil when the queen gives birth to a grotesque frog and the king orders its execution; though the monster is slain, the queen becomes haunted by recurring visions, fits, and sleepwalking that merge horror with a growing, ambivalent tenderness. The palace falls under an atmosphere of silence, terror, and uncanny noises as attendants are progressively unnerved. Her dreams transport her through pestilential plains and gibbet-strewn woods and toward an obscene mandrake root, while the narrative interweaves macabre fantasy and psychological detail to probe vanity, maternal ambivalence, shame, and the corrosive power of guilt.