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.

Shortlisted
The Man Booker Prize 2012
Published by
Bloomsbury
Publication date
Will Self

Will Self

About the Author

Will Self is an English novelist, journalist, political commentator and television personality.
More about Will Self

Other nominated books by Will Self

Dorian