Charles Barbara (1817-1866), though principally remembered today for being "a friend of Baudelaire," was, arguably, one of the more influential writers of his time, being one of the earliest authors of science fiction, Naturalism, and the roman policier. The present volume, originally published as Mes petites-maisons in 1860, and here offered in English for the first time in a translation by Brian Stableford, brings together six of Barbara's best tales, presented something in the manner of case studies. From "Outline of the Life of a Virtuoso," in which we follow the career of an obsessed violinist, and "Major Whittington," a classic science fiction novella that overflows with technological excesses, to the psychological "Irma Gilquin," the current selection reveals a writer whose influences were wide, whose ambitions were great, and whose previous neglect has been grossly unfair.