The Reign of Satan, written by the radical Benjamin Gastineau and originally published in 1848, the same year the author was convicted for writing for Proudhon's journal La Voix du Peuple, is a true page-turner-a fast-moving melodrama with all the trappings of the genre. The story, which centers around two orphans, Maurice and Juliette, and their contentions with various evil influences, most especially that of the satanic Baron Barcas, is one in which sentiment vies with base instincts, and sensibility with the lust for gain.

A document of great interest, The Reign of Satan, in the best traditions of the feuilleton novel, lays bare the mores and passions of the French society of days gone by.