The strange, captivating story of transformation and despair.

Gregor Samsa, a dedicated and hard-working travelling salesman, awakes one morning to a horrific realization. He finds himself changed beyond recognition. Insect-like, enormous and completely disorientated, he cowers in his bedroom, desperate to escape this nightmare.

Gregor’s cruel boss and his family are appalled. Formerly the only breadwinner, Gregor is shut in his room and is all but abandoned by his household, with only his sister bothering to bring him scraps of food. As days turn into months, tensions rise in the house; and eventually Gregor’s family abandon him completely, leaving him to fend for himself.

The Metamorphosis, Kafka’s masterpiece of unease and black humour, is one of the twentieth century’s most influential works of fiction.

“He is the greatest German writer of our time. Such poets as Rilke or such novelists as Thomas Mann are dwarfs or plaster saints in comparison to him.”

— Vladimir Nabokov