Bright young men bond in their teens and vow to become doctors to cure the brother of one. His infliction: schizophrenia, cruelly treated at that time. Both qualify and follow opposing sides of the developing science, one rational, one Freudian. This is an impressive work which details their long lives and the study of the early theories of psychiatry. It's beautifully written as one would expect, just, perhaps, a tad too long I felt.
Sebastian Faulks was born and brought up in Newbury, Berkshire. He worked in journalism before starting to write books. He is best known for the French trilogy, The Girl at the Lion d'Or, Birdsong and CharlotteGray (1989-1997) and is also the author of a triple biography, The Fatal Englishman (1996); a small book of literary parodies, Pistache (2006); and the novels HumanTraces (2005) and Engleby (2007). He lives in London with his wife and their three children. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1993 and appointed CBE for services to literature in 2002. He lives in London with his wife and their three children.
