Tormented Hope: Nine Hypochondriac Lives

Description

A brilliant exploration, through nine famous lives, of the relationship between mind and body Brian Dillon looks at nine prominent hypochondriacs - James Boswell, Charlotte Bronte, Charles Darwin, Florence Nightingale, Daniel Paul Schreber, Alice James, Marcel Proust, Glenn Gould and Andy Warhol - and what their lives tell us about the way the mind works with, and against, the body. His findings are stimulating and surprising, and the stories he tells are often moving, sometimes hilarious, and always gripping.

Brian Dillon was born in Dublin in 1969. He writes on the arts, books and culture for a number of publications. His first book, In the Dark Room, won the Irish Book Award for Non-fiction in 2006. He lives in Canterbury.

It's so good that, after reading it, I needed a lie-down. -- Hilary Mantel * Guardian Books of the Year * A brilliant series of portraits * Observer * Fascinating ... Written with great elegance and shrewd understanding -- William Boyd * Guardian Books of the Year * Illuminating, humane and beautiful * Independent * Ingenious and intriguing * Guardian * Brian Dillon is a superbly careful writer. ... [This book] will delight, move and horrify any of the millions of us who, like the late Spike Milligan, have at one time or another contemplated having "I told you I was ill" inscribed on our gravestones. -- Sam Leith * Daily Mail * A mini-masterpiece -- Louise Carpenter * Observer * Excellent * Sunday Times * Strangely delightful ... Dillon's book is constantly intelligent * Scotland on Sunday * You don't need to be a hypochondriac to enjoy this series of discursive, insightful essays that are full of quirky details and fascinating anecdotes * Mail on Sunday * Illuminating -- Philip Hoare * Sunday Telegraph * Eloquent and incisive -- Boyd Tonkin * Independent * Dillon's mind is as interesting as those of the people he writes about ... bizarrely unputdownable -- Eileen Battersby * Irish Times *