The Sensualist

A scholar's search for her husband unfolds a hallucinatory tale of vengeance in a mystery illustrated by the artist and author of The Tattooed Map.


When her journalist husband suddenly goes missing, art historian Helen Martin travels to Vienna to find him. But soon after her arrival, she finds herself entering a strange world of twilight, dream logic, and danger. Traveling by train with a mysterious box of wonders, Helen's search for her husband takes her headlong into a tense mystery with provocative links to the past.



The clues Helen must piece together—jewels, notes, ancient anatomy texts—are all presented to the reader in Barbara Hodgson's illustrations. Both a complex thriller and an investigation of the senses, The Sensualist explores the limitations of looking and the boundless power of seeing.