Ingenious Pain (Paperback)

Publisher and industry reviews

Jacket review

'A wild adventure through 18th-century England and Russia, medicine, madness, landscape and weather, rendered in prose of consummate beauty.' -- Independent Books of the Year 'Dazzling ... Miller tackles notions of mortality and humanity to brilliant effect ... truly wonderful' -- Evening Standard 'Astoundingly good ... it shines like a beacon among the grey dross of much contemporary fiction' -- The Times 'A really remarkable first novel, original, powerfully written ... Miller's narrative is gripping and his imagination extraordinary.' -- Sunday Telegraph 'A timeless and thought-provoking fable about human nature ... It is something very rare in modern fiction, a true work of art.' -- Spectator 'Strange, unsettling, sad, beautiful, and profound' -- Literary Review

UK Kirkus review

James Dyer is a strange baby. He doesn't cry or speak until he is 11 - and he can feel no pain. Born in 1739, to a family that is wiped out by smallpox, he is taken in by an itinerant quack who uses him to sell bogus medicines, and then handed over to a scientist who adds him to a collection of freaks. James's quick mind enables him to study anatomy and by the time he is 21 he has served as a naval doctor and acquired a medical practice in Bath, from where he sets out on a journey to Russia to inoculate Catherine the Great. James's insensitivity affects his soul as well as his body. His lack of the experience of pain has bred a total lack of emotion. In Russia he meets a witch-like beauty whose healing powers melt this imperviousness to life. A startlingly mature, gifted first novel. (Kirkus UK)

|

Add to wish list