A Times Book of the Year
A Daily Mail Historical Book of the Year
'An extraordinary, quite brilliant book' - C. J. Sansom
'Original and gripping' - The Times
'Powerful and unsettling' - Andrew Taylor
'Engrossing ... compelling' - The Sunday Times
'Powerful, imaginative' - Literary Review
What kind of person keeps a man underground for seven years?
And who would agree to be part of such an experiment?
Herbert Powyss lives on a small estate in the Welsh Marches, with enough time and income to pursue a gentleman's fashionable cultivation of exotic plants and trees. But he longs to make his mark in the field of science - something consequential enough to present to the Royal Society in London.
He hits on a radical experiment in isolation: for seven years a subject will inhabit three rooms in the cellar of the manor house, fitted out with books, paintings and even a chamber organ. Meals will arrive thrice daily via a dumbwaiter. The solitude will be totally unrelieved by any social contact; the subject will keep a diary of his daily thoughts and actions. The pay? Fifty pounds per annum, for life.
Only one man is desperate enough to apply for the job: John Warlow, a semi-literate labourer with a wife and six children to provide for. The experiment, a classic Enlightenment exercise gone more than a little mad, will have unforeseen consequences for all included. In this seductive tale of self-delusion and obsession, Alix Nathan has created an utterly transporting historical novel which is both elegant and unforgettably sinister.
BBC History Magazine Best Historical Fiction of 2019



![Follett, Ken FICTION PAPERBACK Ken Follett: The Pillars of the Earth [2002]](http://chaptersbookstore.com/cdn/shop/files/follett-ken-ken-follett-the-pillars-of-the-earth-2002-1205242024_{width}x.jpg?v=1763328552)
![Long, Kate & Sharp, Lesley & Radcliffe, Naomi & Wake, Joanna FICTION HARDBACK New Kate Long: The Bad Mother's Handbook [2004] hardback](http://chaptersbookstore.com/cdn/shop/files/long-kate-sharp-lesley-radcliffe-naomi-wake-joanna-kate-long-the-bad-mother-s-handbook-2004-hardback-9780330419321-1205172468_{width}x.jpg?v=1763240483)
![Bloom, Amy FICTION PAPERBACK New Amy Bloom: Love Invents Us [1998] paperback](http://chaptersbookstore.com/cdn/shop/files/bloom-amy-amy-bloom-love-invents-us-1998-paperback-9780330350693-1205172481_{width}x.jpg?v=1763240480)
![Bealby, Jonny FICTION PAPERBACK New Jonny Bealby: Running With The Moon [1996] paperback](http://chaptersbookstore.com/cdn/shop/files/bealby-jonny-jonny-bealby-running-with-the-moon-1996-paperback-9780099436652-1205172559_{width}x.jpg?v=1763240478)
