The man with the broken ear

"The Man with the Broken Ear" by Edmond About is a 19th-century story that centers on Leon Renault, a young engineer who returns home after striking it rich, ready to reconnect with his family and his childhood sweetheart, Clementine, but his homecoming takes a strange turn when he finds himself involved with the reanimation of a mummy—Colonel Fougas—undertaken by the quirky Professor Meiser; Leon's joyous return and anticipation of marrying Clementine is quickly complicated when Clementine develops a strange fascination and affection for the reanimated colonel, testing Leon's relationship and raising ethical questions about love, science, and the boundary between life and death.