Book description
>glorious career as a military surgeon. Across the Empire, Barry achieved
fame not only as a brilliant physician, but also a legendary duellist
and a celebrated social figure. But James Miranda Barry was also a
woman. Her greatest achievement of all had been to 'pass' for a man for
more than fifty years.
Patricia Duncker's novel tells
Barry's story for the first
time, in a richly inventive and entertaining
tale of dark family
secrets, adultery, questioned paternity and
colonial history. It
confirms her rare talent as a writer of profound
ideas and
immense storytelling power.
>Barry enrolled as a medical student in Edinburgh, the start of a
At the turn of the nineteenth century, ten-year-old James Miranda
'A miracle of a book that is richly atmospheric and gains the murky
excitement of a Victorian thriller' Sunday Times 'A marvellous work ...
superbly imagined and flamboyantly written' Beryl Bainbridge 'The finest
literary historical novel since Rose Tremain's Restoration' Time Out 'A
powerful atmospheric and highly original novel, full of extraordinary
events. Her book is both a superb historical recreation and a magical
tour de force' Mail on Sunday >glorious career as a military
surgeon. Across the Empire, Barry achieved
fame not only as a brilliant physician, but also a legendary duellist
and a celebrated social figure. But James Miranda Barry was also a
woman. Her greatest achievement of all had been to 'pass' for a man for
more than fifty years.
Patricia Duncker's novel tells
Barry's story for the first
time, in a richly inventive and entertaining
tale of dark family
secrets, adultery, questioned paternity and
colonial history. It
confirms her rare talent as a writer of profound
ideas and
immense storytelling power.
>Barry enrolled as a medical student in Edinburgh, the start of a
At the turn of the nineteenth century, ten-year-old James Miranda
