A Smell of Burning
A Memoir of Epilepsy
Published on 3. August 2017
Book
Paperback/Softback
256 pages
978-0-09-959787-2 (ISBN)
Description
One day Colin Grant's teenage brother Christopher failed to emerge from the bathroom. His family broke down the door to find him unconscious on the floor. None of their lives were ever the same again. Christopher was diagnosed with epilepsy. In A Smell of Burning Colin Grant tells the remarkable story of this strange and misunderstood disorder. He shows us the famous people with epilepsy like Julius Caesar, Joan of Arc and Vincent van Gogh, the pioneering doctors whose extraordinary breakthroughs finally helped gain an understanding of how the brain works, and, through the tragic tale of his brother, he considers the effect of epilepsy on his own life.
Reviews / Votes
[A] brilliant, tender book... An extraordinary work of love and art, which left me choked with tears. -- Maggie Gee * Observer * A moving memoir as well as a historical study of epilepsy... With verve and sensitivity, Grant tells the stories of individual sufferers. -- James McConnachie * Sunday Times, Book of the Year * Grant's exploration of the literary, political, medical and scientific history of epilepsy is hugely compelling; his telling of the story of two brothers transcends the book's twin genres and leaves us with a wry, gentle masterpiece. -- Seamus Sweeney * Times Literary Supplement * A fascinating personal and historical account. ***** -- Helen Brown * Sunday Telegraph * A flawless amalgam of personal memoir, mind science and medical history. -- Ian Thomson * Spectator * In writing A Smell of Burning... Grant may yet save more lives as a writer than he did as a doctor. -- Helen Brown * Daily Telegraph * As a memoir of Christopher's trajectory of illness it is tenderly expressed, and the book is a poignant evocation of grief and regret. -- Gavin Francis * Guardian * He brings a core of expert knowledge and skill as a communicator to the story... [An] absorbing and sometimes horrifying tale. -- John Gribbon * Literary Review * At its best is like the works of other medics-turned-authors Atul Gawande and Henry Marsh. -- Tom Whipple * The Times * [Grant] helps us gain an eminently accessible insight into a world that...is still shrouded in mystery. It is a touching tale of brotherly love. -- Helen Davies * Sunday Times *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Vintage Publishing
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 131 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
215 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-09-959787-2 (9780099597872)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
08/2016
Vintage Digital
€9.49
Available for download
Person
Colin Grant is an author, historian and critic. He has written acclaimed biographies of the Wailers and of Marcus Garvey. Bageye at the Wheel, his memoir of growing up in a Caribbean family in 1970s Luton, was shortlisted for the PEN Ackerley Prize. His history of epilepsy, A Smell of Burning, was a Sunday Times Book of the Year. Homecoming: Voices of the Windrush Generation, was a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week and Daily Telegraph Book of the Year. His most recent book, I'm Black So You Don't Have to Be was a New Statesman Book of the Year. He is director of WritersMosaic, a division of the RLF, and a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.