Asylum

Name: Asylum
Brand: Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand
SKU: 9781950539512
Price: 59.99 NZD
Availability: InStock

By Nina Shope

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3.41

( 66 ratings, 10 reviews)

Summary

Asylum is a compelling piece of historical fiction exploring the turbulent relationship between Augustine, a young hysteric, and J.M. Charcot, a pioneering 19th-century French neurologist. As Charcot risks his esteemed career researching hysteria through hypnotic techniques and medical photography, Augustine strives for recognition of their complex interdependence and desires. Their bond evolves from fascination to jealousy and rivalry, culminating in bitter enmity when a new lover enters their lives. Nina Shope's lyrical and feverish prose paints a vivid picture of power, obsession, and the frailty of the human mind.
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Format: Hardback

$59⁹⁹

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Asylum

$59⁹⁹

Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This novel is ideal for readers interested in historical fiction with psychological depth, those fascinated by 19th-century medical history, and fans of intense, character-driven narratives reminiscent of Mary Shelley and Donna Tartt.

Description

Winner of the Dzanc Prize for Fiction

A work of brilliant and innovative historical fiction, Asylum delves into the disturbing and seductive relationship between a young hysteric named Augustine and renowned nineteenth-century French neurologist J.M. Charcot. As Charcot risks his career to investigate the controversial disease of hysteria, Augustine struggles to make him acknowledge their interdependence and shared desires—until a new lover, M., drives them all to the brink of fracture.

Drawing upon the medical photography, hypnotic states, and "grand demonstrations" that accompanied Charcot's research, Asylum traces the deterioration of the dynamic between doctor and patient as they transform from mutually entranced creators to jealous and spurned paramours, to fierce rivals, and finally to bitter enemies. Told in lyrical, feverish, and sometimes delirious prose, Nina Shope delivers a captivating narrative at the crossroads of Mary Shelley and Donna Tartt.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Praised for its fierce and precise writing, Asylum has been lauded by authors such as George Saunders, who highlights Shope’s visionary and compassionate storytelling. Laird Hunt applauds the novel’s poise and power, calling it a bracing literary journey that vividly depicts gendered dynamics in 19th-century French medicine. The book offers an incisive look at obsession and control within early psychiatry, exploring themes of power, the tyranny of the gaze, and the shifting roles between observer and observed.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781950539512

Publisher: Dzanc Books

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 30 June 2022

Country: United States

Imprint: Dzanc Books

Illustration: Illustrations

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 139.0mm

Height: 215.0mm

Weight: 250g

Collections

Fiction General Fiction Historical Fiction Nina Shope

About the Author

Nina Shope is the author of Hangings: Three Novellas (Starcherone Books). Her fiction has appeared in Plinth, Salt Hill, Fourteen Hills, 3rd Bed, Open City, Clerestory: A Brown/RISD Journal of the Art, and on sidebrow.net. Her writing has been anthologized in PP/FF: An Anthology, Wreckage of Reason: XXperimental Women Writers Writing in the 21st Century, New Standards: The First Decade of Fiction at Fourteen Hills, and elsewhere. She holds an B.A. from Brown University and a MFA from Syracuse University. She currently lives in Denver, Colorado, with her husband, author Christopher Narozny, and their corgi.