The Stonehenge Letters
by Harry Karlinsky
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Pub Date 24 Apr 2014 | Archive Date 30 Jun 2014
HarperCollins UK | The Friday Project
Description
A remarkable new novel from the Wellcome Trust longlisted author.
While digging through the Nobel Archives in Stockholm, trying to figure out why his hero, Sigmund Freud, never received a Nobel Prize, a psychiatrist makes an unusual discovery.
Among the unsolicited self-nominations in the museum’s ‘Crackpot’ file there are six letters addressed to Mr Ragnar Sohlman, executor of Alfred Nobel’s will. Remarkably, all but one has been written by a Nobel laureate – including Rudyard Kipling, Ivan Pavlov, Teddy Roosevelt and Marie Curie. Each letter attempts to explain why and how Stonehenge was constructed. Diligent research eventually uncovers that Alfred Nobel, intrigued by a young woman's obsession with the mysterious landmark, added a secret codicil to his will:
A prize – reserved exclusively for Nobel laureates – was to be awarded to the person who can solve the mystery of Stonehenge.
Weaving together a wealth of primary documents – photos, letters, wills – The Stonehenge Letters is a wryly documented archive of a fascinating covert competition, complete with strange but illuminating submissions and a contentious prize-awarding process.
But is this fact or is this fiction?
Advance Praise
‘This little novel is a delight from its first word to its last. In his previous novel, The Evolution of Inanimate Objects, Karlinsky proved himself one of literature's great ventriloquists. In The Stonehenge Letters, his embodiment of Pavlov, Kipling, Roosevelt, Curie, and Alfred Nobel himself is by turns thoughtful, whimsical, haunting, and laugh-out-loud funny. Reading this book was like skating over the smoothest ice; I was blissfully unaware of the transitions from history to fiction and back again.’ Annabel Lyon, author of The Sweet Girl
'The Stonehenge Letters is a fantastic book, and well done to the publisher for taking a chance on such a weird hybrid work.' Lit Reactor
Available Editions
| EDITION | Ebook |
| ISBN | 9780007464319 |
| PRICE | £1.99 (GBP) |
Featured Reviews
Rosemary S, Librarian
The Stonehenge Letters by Harry Karlinsky. Published by HarperCollins UK
June 10, 2014 by cayocosta72 Leave a comment
Of all the people who received Nobel Prizes, why was Sigmund Freud never so honored? A psychiatrist, and one of Freud’s staunchest supporters wants the answer to that question. Digging through the Novel archives in Stockholm, he finds letters written by 6 Nobel laureates, among them Kipling, Roosevelt, Curie and Pavlov. Each letter attempts to explain how and why Stonehenge was constructed. It seems that Alfred Nobel’s will contains a codicil promising treasure beyond the wildest dreams for whoever can solve the mystery of the monolith.
A most unusual story, wry, sarcastic, funny and intelligent, this is the next book for the reader who wants a completely different experience.
Roman C, Reviewer
Delightfully quirky and eccentric
Amidst the sea of me-too, generic novels out there, this is genuinely idiosyncratic and just a little eccentric. Merging history and fiction in a seamless fashion, this tells the story of a slightly obsessed psychiatrist who is seeking to understand why Freud was never awarded a Nobel prize. Digging through the Nobel archives, he comes across the ‘Crackpot’ file and so is led to a previously unpublicised codicil to Alfred Nobel’s will offering an additional prize to a previous prize-winner from any of the categories who can explain Stonehenge...
Karlinsky has done a marvellous job of ventriloquising letters from Nobel winners such as Rudyard Kipling, Ivan Pavlov (of Pavlov’s dogs fame), Marie Curie and others all centred on the mystery of Stonehenge but taken from their own unique perspective.
This is only a short book, easily read in a single sitting, but it is one which is both illuminating (I’m quite ashamed to admit I knew nothing of Alfred Nobel as an individual), and wonderfully clever and funny.
‘Quirky’ has become an over-used descriptor of novels, but it fits this book perfectly. I suspect this may never be a commercial best-seller but it’s the sort of book that I want to push onto all my friends. Well done to Harper Collins for publishing such an original piece of writing.
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