“The Gadfly” (eng. The Gadfly) is a revolutionary romantic novel, the work of the English, later American writer Ethel Lilian Voynich.
First published in 1897 in the USA. The novel depicts the activities of participants in the underground revolutionary organization “Young Italy” in the first half of the 19th century; Christianity is sharply criticized.
The novel tells the story of a young, naive, in love, full of ideas and romantic illusions, Arthur Burton. He was deceived, slandered and rejected by everyone.
He disappears, imitating suicide, and subsequently returns to his homeland 13 years later under a different name, a man with a disfigured appearance, a distorted fate and a hardened heart.
He appeared before the people he once loved and knew as a mocking cynic with the journalistic pseudonym Gadfly.