Andrew Miller
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Ingenious Pain: A Novel
Andrew Miller
In 1739 James Dyer is born. He never cries, does not speak until the age of 11 and, strangest of all, cannot feel pain. When smallpox destroys his family, he joins an itinerant quack who uses him to sell bogus medicine. Then a wealthy disciple of Newton discovers James, adds him to his collection of freaks, and parades him before the scientific establishment.
With a quick and curious mind, James develops an interest in anatomy; by the age of 21, after serving under a naval doctor at sea, he has established a highly successful medical practice in Bath. A brilliant surgeon James might be, but he is a cold and heartless one. Until, en route to St. Petersburg to inoculate the Empress Catherine against smallpox, he encounters a witchlike woman with natural healing powers who becomes at once his nemesis and savior.
Andrew Miller
It is the summer of 1997. Alec Valentine is returning to England to care for his ailing mother, Alice, a task that only reinforces his deep sense of inadequacy. In San Francisco, his older brother Larry prepares to come home as well, preoccupied with an acting career that is sliding toward sleaze and a marriage that is faltering. In Paris, on the other hand, the Hungarian playwright Lászlo Lázár seems to have it all—critical acclaim, a loving boyfriend, and a close circle of friends—yet even he is haunted by guilt and tragedy. For each of them the time has come to assess the turns taken, the opportunities missed. And for each there will be one last chance to break free from the past and find redemption in a moment of clarity and courage.
Andrew Miller has given us an intimate, compelling meditation that evokes an extraordinary range of emotions and insights—Oxygen lives and breathes beyond the final page.
