"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Harry, "to whom Nature in her folly gave the soul of a smuggler, and the tongue of a poet," was a Cornish smuggler, horrifically mutilated in a fire that killed his wife and dispersed his children. Only Martha stood by him. As the story unfolds, she follows her father to London, where the self-anointed, poetry-spouting "Cripplegate Monster" displays his hideously deformed body in the taverns and watering holes of London's underworld. Soon Harry comes to the sinister attentions of Lord Drogo, who "wanted him for his Museum of Anatomy." As father and daughter are drawn into this gentleman scientist's world, Harry turns to drink, catastrophically abusing Martha and sending her fleeing to America, where she becomes embroiled in the struggle for independence from England. At this point, the story may seem to have wandered far afield. But as Martha Peake reaches its climax, Ambrose realizes that the fate of both parent and child is much closer to home than he could ever have imagined.
Practicing the black art of storytelling to near-perfection, Patrick McGrath has produced a wonderful tale of "sacrifice and abomination and heroism and resolve and victory." The book's darkness and intermittent grotesquerie will cement his New Gothic reputation. Still, Martha Peake belongs more arguably in the company of Charles Dickens, whose literary ghost haunts these pages no less powerfully than those of the tragic father-and-daughter team. --Jerry Brotton
--Tobias Wolff
" Beautifully written, morally complex, utterly convincing."
--People
"A tour de force . . . From beginning to end Asylum is a hypnotic read, beautifully judged and . . . ruthlessly manipulative."
--San Francisco Chronicle
"A cleverly insidious, beautifully rendered thriller."
--Entertainment Weekly
"Coolly compelling . . . The book's power ultimately lies not only in the story it tells, but how it's told and who is doing the telling."
--Chicago Tribune
"Taut, tension-filled . . . a chilling story that works as both a Freudian parable and an old-fashioned gothic shocker."
--The New York Times
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
(No Available Copies)
Search Books: Create a WantIf you know the book but cannot find it on AbeBooks, we can automatically search for it on your behalf as new inventory is added. If it is added to AbeBooks by one of our member booksellers, we will notify you!
Create a Want