Unfashioned Creatures - Brossura

Mcdowell, Lesley

Brossura

ISBN 10: 1908643390 ISBN 13: 9781908643391

Casa editrice: Saraband Inc, 2013

Riassunto

London, 1823: Mary Shelley’s real-life friend Isabella Baxter Booth is "disturbed in her reason"—seeing ghosts and dependent on narcotics to escape a hellish life with an increasingly violent, deranged husband. Fearful of her own murderous impulses towards him, Isabella flees for her childhood home in Scotland, where she meets an ambitious young doctor, Alexander Balfour. He will stop at nothing to establish a reputation as a genius in the emerging science of psychiatry, and he believes that Isabella could be the key to his greatness. But as his own torments threaten to overwhelm Alexander, is he really the best judge of which way madness lies?

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Recensione:

Unfashioned Creatures...neatly captures the fevered menace of later 19th-century classics such as Wuthering Heights or indeed Frankenstein itself...These ghostly encounters are quietly chilling, and it's some compliment to McDowell that she succeeds so well in sweeping the modern reader into her world of pre-Victorian murk and superstition....As a psychological whodunit, Unfashioned Creatures keeps up the pressure, even beyond the final page. ... Unfashioned Creatures is a finely worked and confident flight of Gothic fancy that stands up well to scrutiny in our cynical, self-analytical age. McDowell's ear for dialogue is already finely tuned and her handling of the contrasting narratives deftly judged...a tantalising read. --Mary Crockett, The Scotsman

Set in 1823, when Mary Shelley's Frankenstein had become a bestseller, this novel imagines the life of Mary's real-life childhood friend Isabella Baxter Booth....Mary wrote about her as being 'disturbed in her reason', and Lesley McDowell makes this the premise for an exploration of madness and the prevailing attitudes to it in the 19th century, with a particular emphasis on the treatment of women deemed to be 'of unsound mind'. It is a rich historical context.... McDowell maintains an engaging edge of ambiguity throughout. Apart from being a highly intelligent historical exploration of madness and our attitudes to it, this novel is also a compelling account of the developing relationship between a psychiatrist and a patient, in which the former comes to exert an extraordinary power over the latter, with disturbing consequences. McDowell's prose is dense but sharp, charged with urgency by her deep interest in her subject. As in Alexander Balfour's theory of madness, her passion for it in this novel is infectious. --Brian McCabe, Herald Scotland

'A meticulously researched gothic novel full of madness, ghosts and murderous desires. Lesley McDowell brilliantly evokes the tension between the scientific imagination and creative longings. Monstrously good.' --Louise Welsh.


More praise for Lesley McDowell: 'McDowell's confident writing boasts smart dialogue and subtle lyrical style throughout.' --Scottish Review of Books

'Controversial and provocative.' --The Independent

Set in 1823, when Mary Shelley's Frankenstein had become a bestseller, this novel imagines the life of Mary's real-life childhood friend Isabella Baxter Booth....Mary wrote about her as being 'disturbed in her reason', and Lesley McDowell makes this the premise for an exploration of madness and the prevailing attitudes to it in the 19th century, with a particular emphasis on the treatment of women deemed to be 'of unsound mind'. It is a rich historical context.... McDowell maintains an engaging edge of ambiguity throughout. Apart from being a highly intelligent historical exploration of madness and our attitudes to it, this novel is also a compelling account of the developing relationship between a psychiatrist and a patient, in which the former comes to exert an extraordinary power over the latter, with disturbing consequences. McDowell's prose is dense but sharp, charged with urgency by her deep interest in her subject. As in Alexander Balfour's theory of madness, her passion for it in this novel is infectious. --Brian McCabe, Herald Scotland

'A meticulously researched gothic novel full of madness, ghosts and murderous desires. Lesley McDowell brilliantly evokes the tension between the scientific imagination and creative longings. Monstrously good.' - Louise Welsh. More praise for Lesley McDowell: 'McDowell's confident writing boasts smart dialogue and subtle lyrical style throughout.' - Scottish Review of Books. 'Controversial and provocative.' - The Independent. --Louise Welsh

L'autore:

Lesley McDowell is a literary critic for the Herald, Scotsman, and Independent on Sunday. She is the author of The Picnic and Between the Sheets: The Literary Liaisons of Nine 20th-Century Women Writers, which was shortlisted for the nonfiction prize in the 2011 Scottish Book Awards.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Saraband Inc
• Data di pubblicazione: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1908643390
• ISBN 13: 9781908643391
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero di pagine: 292