Night has fallen on Prague's St Nicholas Street. At long last, silence reigns in the home: father, mother and sisters have gone to bed. Only Franz is sitting wide awake behind his desk. Working rapidly, he begins to write down a disturbing story. Its first sentence opens a masterpiece that would go on to captivate millions of readers: "When Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a monstrous insect."

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