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The Course of the Heart
An extraordinary, genre-bending classic
Series: Serpent's Tail Classics
Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.
Check link for latest rating. ( 1,165 ratings, 208 reviews)
Brief Description
The cult classic novel from the author of Climbers and The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again with an introduction by bestselling author of Our Wives Under the Sea, Julia Armfield. 'A spare textual elegance and closure-denying restraint that impresses and fulfils' β IAIN BANKS. On...
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The Course of the Heart
$2799
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The strange edges of reality are explored in M John Harrison's extraordinary cult classic, now with an introduction by bestselling author Julia Armfield
The strange edges of reality are explored in M John Harrison's extraordinary cult classic, now with an introduction by bestselling author Julia Armfield
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Description
The cult classic novel from the author of Climbers and The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again with an introduction by bestselling author of Our Wives Under the Sea, Julia Armfield.
'A spare textual elegance and closure-denying restraint that impresses and fulfils' β IAIN BANKS.
On a hot May night, three Cambridge students carry out a ritualistic act that changes their lives. Decades later, none of the participants can remember what transpired, but their clouded memories bind them together.
Unable to move on, Pam Stuyvesant has epilepsy and is plagued by sensual visions. Her husband Lucas believes that a dwarfish creature is stalking him, and invents histories to soothe Pam's fears. Self-styled Sorcerer Yaxley becomes obsessed with a terrifyingly transcendent reality. The narrator is seemingly the least affected participant in the ritual: he is haunted by the smell of roses, and his guilt as he attempts to help his friends escape the torment that has engulfed their lives.
Strange, dreamlike and moving, The Course of the Heart is an examination of the edges of humanity where we lie, hide, hurt and heal.
'A gloriously intelligent, beautifully written and thoroughly maddening book' β INDEPENDENT.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781805224976
Publisher: Profile Books Ltd
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 07 August 2025
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Serpent's Tail
Edition: Main
Contributors:
- Introduction by Julia Armfield
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 22.0mm
Width: 128.0mm
Height: 198.0mm
Weight: 240g
Pages: 288
About the Author
M. John Harrison is the author of, among others, the Viriconium stories, The Centauri Device, Climbers, The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again, Signs of Life, Light and Wish I Was Here. He has won the Boardman Tasker Prize, the James Tiptree Jr Award, the Arthur C. Clarke Award and the Goldsmiths Prize. He lives in Shropshire.
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The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again
WINNER OF THE GOLDSMITHS PRIZE 2020 A New Statesman Book of the Year 'A mesmerising, mysterious book . . . Haunting. Worrying. Beautiful' Russell T. Davis 'Brilliantly unsettling' Olivia Laing 'A magnificent book' Neil Gaiman 'An extraordinary experience' William Gibson Winner of the Goldsmiths Prize 2020, this is fiction that pushes the boundaries of the novel form. Shaw had a...Paperback$2799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Pre-orderNova Swing
"An awesomely fluent and versatile prose stylist" - INDEPENDENT "Amazing achievement ... Harrison pulls off the almost impossible feat of seamlessly blending hard sci-fi, cyberpunk, noir crime ... while doing what all the best literature does" - Goodreads Reviewer Set in the unique world, first featured in the award-winning Light, here is a story of love, murder, and intergalactic noir...Paperback$2799Unit price /UnavailableOut 25 Aug 2026Pre-order -
Light
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'No one alive can write sentences like he can. He's the missing evolutionary link between William Burroughs and Virginia Woolf' β Olivia Laing 'Among the most brilliant novelists writing today' β Robert Macfarlane 'Truly gets to the heart of that strange, indefinable otherness of the wild northern landscape' β Benjamin Myers Retreating from the ruins of his marriage, Mike leaves...PaperbackSold Out -
Wish I Was Here
Wish I Was Here is a masterpiece' Helen Macdonald, author of H is for Hawk 'It will surprise you, sometimes astound you, and leave you profoundly changed' Jonathan Coe, author of The Rotters' Club M. John Harrison has produced one of the greatest bodies of fiction of any living British author, encompassing space opera, speculative fiction, fantasy, magical and literary...PaperbackSold Out
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