"Auriol; or, The Elixir of Life" by William Harrison Ainsworth is a gothic novel first published in 1844. After consuming his alchemist grandfather's elixir, Auriol Darcy lives for over two centuries, bound by a sinister contract with a mysterious stranger who demands women he loves as payment. Set primarily in 1830s London, this dark fantasy follows Auriol's desperate attempts to save his beloved Ebba from supernatural forces, while questioning whether his extraordinary experiences are real or the delusions of madness. (This is an automatically generated summary.)