The phenomenal #1 bestseller that inspired the classic motion picture--= the most terrifying and unforgettable horror novel ever written--now available as a Harper Perennial Olive Edition. "A page-turner par excellence. Poe and Mary Shelley would recognize [Blatty] as working in their ambiguous limbo between the natural and the supernatural . . . hair-rising."--Life "Read the book. It's an experience you will never forget."--St. Louis Post-Dispatch Originally published in 1971, The Exorcist was a bestselling literary phenomenon and one of the most frightening--and controversial--novels ever written. Based on true events--a child's demonic possession in the 1940s--it is the story of eleven-year-old Regan MacNeil, whose sudden disturbing, and often violent, behavior drive her desperate mother, Chris, a famous actress, to eventually seek help from two Catholic priests, men who will risk everything--including their own souls-- to free the girl from an ancient malevolent force possessing her. Purposefully raw and profane, this novel still has the extraordinary ability to shock readers and cause them to forget that it is "just a story."