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On a stormy night in 1813, a doctor is called to the aid of two prostitutes in childbirth. To one is born a healthy girl, Henriette, to the other, what can only be described as a monster: a boy, Hercules, deaf-mute and hideously deformed, and with the power to read minds. This is a picaresque fable of the love that grows between Hercules and Henriette during their childhood, and which will entwine their fates for ever. Vallgren paints a cast of grotesques in a magical and atmospheric tour of nineteenth-century Europe: the swags and tails of the bordello, where Hercules is born; the phantasmagoria of the freak show, with which he travels; the sinister grandeur of the Jesuit monasteries, in which he finds both shelter and peril; the squalor of the asylum, where he finds only pain. The Horrific Sufferings of the Mind-reading Monster Hercules Barefoot tells of social oppression, official corruption and religious persecution, but is, at its heart, a love story
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The Horrific Sufferings of the Mind-reading Monster Hercules Barefoot, Carl-Johan Vallgren
- Language
- Released
- 2005
- product-detail.submit-box.info.binding
- (Hardcover),
- Book condition
- Damaged
- Price
- €3.42
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- Language
- English
- Authors
- Carl-Johan Vallgren
- Publisher
- Vintage
- Released
- 2005
- Format
- Hardcover
- Pages
- 384
- ISBN10
- 1843431513
- ISBN13
- 9781843431510
- Series
- Tags
- Fiction, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Adventure, Love, Relationships, Children, Gifts for grandpa, 19th century, Middle Ages, Life, Scandinavian Literature, Revenge, Church, Fate, Sweden, Cities, Swedish literature, Vienna, Childbirth, Brothels
- First published
- 2002
- Original title
- Vidunderliga kärlekens historia
- Rating
- 3.7 out of 5
- Description
- On a stormy night in 1813, a doctor is called to the aid of two prostitutes in childbirth. To one is born a healthy girl, Henriette, to the other, what can only be described as a monster: a boy, Hercules, deaf-mute and hideously deformed, and with the power to read minds. This is a picaresque fable of the love that grows between Hercules and Henriette during their childhood, and which will entwine their fates for ever. Vallgren paints a cast of grotesques in a magical and atmospheric tour of nineteenth-century Europe: the swags and tails of the bordello, where Hercules is born; the phantasmagoria of the freak show, with which he travels; the sinister grandeur of the Jesuit monasteries, in which he finds both shelter and peril; the squalor of the asylum, where he finds only pain. The Horrific Sufferings of the Mind-reading Monster Hercules Barefoot tells of social oppression, official corruption and religious persecution, but is, at its heart, a love story