Review
'Gripping ... the plot gradually unravels in a most absorbing manner, clues and hints subtly weaving their way into the book ... a new voice in original, entertaining and challenging fiction.' -- Cathryn Scott, Big Issue 'An unsettling, weirdly evocative novel, evidently superbly researched ... the novel's images of the dawn of modern psychiatry and its portrait of doctor and patient struggling together towards the light remain memorably poignant.' -- Jon Barnes, Times Literary Supplement '[An] interesting, elegant tale' -- Jessica Mann, Sunday Telegraph 'Hannah's inner thoughts are delicately handled ... and her story is touching.' -- Eva Figes, Guardian
Cathryn Scott, The Big Issue (Cymru), August 23rd 2004
...gripping...the plot gradually unravels in a most absorbing manner...a new voice in original, entertaining and challenging fiction.
Richard Eder, Los Angeles Times, July 17th 2005
"...compelling... splendidly affecting...strange and stirring...painted in deliberately rough, Bruegel-like images..."
Jon Barnes, Times Literary Supplement, November 5th 2004
"... an unsettling, weirdly evocative novel, evidently superbly researched...memorably poignant."
Scotland on Sunday
'Scrupulously researched and intensely imagined . . . an ambitious undertaking - beautifully, sinuously written . . . an outstanding delight'
Mary Carole McCauley, Baltimore Sun, July 17th 2005
"...quietly compelling... she has a poet's eye for beauty and a gift for physical description... it is not easily forgotten."
Mary O’Sullivan, Sunday Independent, February 13th 2005
"...a meaty read, full of fascinating information... and a poignant story of love and betrayal, racism and abuse."
Cathryn Scott, The Big Issue, August 23rd 2004.
"...gripping... the plot gradually unravels in a most absorbing manner…a new voice in original entertaining and challenging fiction."
Jon Barnes, Times Literary Supplement, November 5th 2004
...an unsettling, weirdly evocative novel, evidently superbly researched...memorably poignant.
Product Description
Hanna is a German Jewish girl apparently suffering from 'nymphomania', which in 19th-century Germany means she has had a premarital relationship with a man. Assigned to treat her is Dr Heinrich Hoffman, whose efforts to get her to talk about her 'problem' meet with failure - until he starts to tell her about his other patients, like schizophrenic Robert, who hears voices (Flying Robert) and Lise, who cuts herself with scissors (Little Suck-a-thumb). As Hoffman opens up, gradually revealing the unhappiness in his own life, Hanna begins to speak about the love affair that led her to the asylum. But as her confidence grows it is Hoffman who begins to depend emotionally on her, to equate her pain with his grief at the absence of his troubled son, and to question what he has achieved in his life - the only thing that seems to have lasted is a children's book of silly rhymes and pictures - surely that can't count for anything!
About the Author
Clare Dudman was born in North Wales and educated at the University of Durham and King's College London. In 1995 her children's novel won the Kathleen Fidler Award, and in 2001 she received a prestigious Arts Council Award for WEGENER'S JIGSAW.
