Will Self transports Oscar Wilde’s original tale of decadence and sin to a hedonistic late 20th century, with brutally chilling effect
Umbrella
Written by Will Self
- Shortlisted
- The Man Booker Prize 2012
- Published by Bloomsbury
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Weaving together a dense tapestry of consciousness and a century of lived life, Will Self sets out to understand the nature of the modern world
In 1918, Audrey Death, a munitions worker, succumbs to the new encephalitis lethargica epidemic, which kills a third of its victims and condemns a further third to living death. Fifty-three years later, Audrey lies supine under the curious gaze of Dr Busner in Friern Mental Hospital, her home for half a century. In 2010, the now retired doctor scours north London in search of the truth about that tumultuous summer - when he woke his post-encephalitic patients using a new and powerful drug.
Will Self
Will Self is an English novelist, journalist, political commentator and television personality
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