Review
From the book jacket: What is it to be human? This question, as in
Birdsong, is at the heart of
Human Traces. Set in the late 19th and
early 20th centuries, this is an extraordinary novel that brings to vivid life,
through the story of the volatile friendship and dedicated careers of two
determined men, the epic quest to map the human mind.
Comment: Faulks's latest novel, a 550 page epic that took him four years
to write, is not so much a novel about the dawn of
modern psychiatry, as a history of psychiatry wrapped around a novel. It's
an incredibly ambitious, intelligent work, sufficiently well researched that I
wouldn't be surprised if it becomes required reading for medical students.
In fact, the grasp that Faulks has for his material is sometimes quite
overwhelming, to the point that I must admit to skipping...
Beyond the Book
Sebastian Faulks was born on 20 April 1953 and was educated in England at
Wellington College and Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He was the first literary
editor of
The Independent (a leading British newspaper launched in 1986) and became deputy editor of the
Independent on Sunday
before leaving in 1991 to concentrate on writing; he continues to contribute
articles and reviews to a number of newspapers and magazines.
He is well-known for his three novels set in wartime France:
The Girl at the
Lion d'Or (1989), set between the First and Second World Wars,
Birdsong
(1993), the story of a young Englishman and his
harrowing experiences fighting in northern France during the First World War;
and
Charlotte Gray (1998), the adventures...
