<p>Having been diagnosed with hysteria in 1878, Blanche Wittman was committed to Salpetriere Hospital for sixteen years. Under the care of the famous M. Charcot she was regularly displayed before a public audience in a cataleptic state. Over time the nature of her participation in these demonstrations changed, as did her relationship with M. Charcot, until eventually she graduated from patient to assistant. On leaving the hospital, she was hired by Marie Curie to work in her Paris laboratory, where, on 17 February 1898, after successful experiments conducted with the mineral pitchblende, radium was discovered. So enchanted was Marie by its soft blue glow that she took to keeping a glass vial of radium salts at her bedside. For Blanche, the effects were more brutal; exposure to radiation necessitated the amputation of all her limbs, save one. Marie did not escape tragedy altogether; her husband and collaborator Pierre was weakened by illness and subsequently killed having wandered in front of an oncoming horse and cart. Following Pierre's death Marie embarked on an ill-fated love affair which, in 1911, almost cost her a second Nobel Prize. Using Blanche's notebooks - "The Book of Questions" - Enquist deftly weaves fact and fiction to render the extraordinary relationship of two extraordinary women at the dawn of a century of tremendous change. Sigmund Freud, Albert Einstein and Emmeline Pankhurst are among the many that add to the authenticity of this powerful tale of scientific discovery, death, art and love.</p>

Story of Blanche and Marie

Literature & Fiction

ENQUIST, Per Olov

Genre Fiction

Vintage Books USA

The first collection by Sweden's foremost contemporary playwrightNIGHT OF THE TRIBADES (1975) centres around the triangular relationship between August Strindberg, the actress Marie Caroline David and Siri von Essen. It has been translated into twenty languages including a short run on Broadway. THE IMAGE MAKERS (1998) deals with Selma Lagerlof's father and his alcoholism whilst THE RAIN MAKERS is a fascinating study of Hans Christian Anderson. THE HOUR OF THE LYNX: "Enquist's play, feelingly translated from the Swedish offers a profound exploration of spirituality, love and faith within a text that is grippingly dramatic, unfailingly absorbing and often upliftingly lyrical.""At a time when young writers were looking for new forms of literary expression, Enquist settled for an investigative style, and attempt to reconstruct events reported to have happened, but where the truth is often too inaccessible... it was a style that was to remain Enquist's literary landmark characterising both his novels and his plays" Contemporary World Authors ed. Tracey Chevalier

Enquist Four Plays: The Night of Tribades, Rain Snakes, The Hour of the Lynx, The Image Makers (Contemporary Dramatists)

Dramas & Plays

Methuen Drama

The legionnaires;: A documentary novel

Delacorte Press/S. Lawrence

The March of Musicians

Texas Bookman

Downfall: A Love Story

Quartet Books Ltd.

Captain Nemo's library

Quartet Books

Grandfather & the Wolves

Gerald Duckworth Co Ltd

The Night of the Tribades: A Play from 1889 (Mermaid Dramabook)

History & Criticism

Hill Wang

The Hour of the Lynx: A Play

Dufour Editions

<p>The Royal Physician's Visit magnificently recasts the dramatic era of Danish history when Johann Friedrich Struensee -- court physician to mad young King Christian -- stepped through an aperture in history and became the holder of absolute power in Denmark. His is a gripping tale of power, sex, love, and the life of the mind, and it is superbly rendered here by Sweden's most acclaimed writer. A charismatic German doctor and brilliant intellectual, Struensee used his influence to introduce hundreds of reforms in Denmark in the 1760s and had a tender and erotic affair with Queen Caroline Mathilde, who was unsatisfied by her unstable, childlike husband. And yet, his ambitions ultimately led to tragedy. This novel, perfect for book clubs, is a compelling look into the intrigues of an Enlightenment court and the life of a singular man.</p>

The Royal Physician's Visit

Literary

Harry N. Abrams

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Books by ENQUIST, Per Olov