The Stonehenge Letters
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
While researching why Freud failed to win a Nobel Prize at the Nobel Archives in Sweden, a psychiatrist makes an unusual discovery. Among the piles of papers in the 'Crackpot' file are letters addressed to the executor of Alfred Nobel's will, written by several notable Nobel laureates — including Rudyard Kipling and Marie Curie — each offering an explanation of why and how Stonehenge was constructed. Diligent research uncovers that Alfred Nobel added a secret codicil to his will, a prize for the Nobel laureate who solves the mystery of Stonehenge.
Weaving together a wealth of primary sources — photos, letters, wills — The Stonehenge Letters tells the tale of a fascinating secret competition.
Praise for The Stonehenge Letters:
'This little novel is a delight from its first word to its last. The Stonehenge Letters 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 transition from history to fiction and back again'
— Annabel Lyon, author of The Sweet Girl
'In his alarmingly smart and dangerously absorbing Freud-tinged romance/detective story, Harry Karlinsky deploys explosions, earthworms, radioactive particles and a passel of Nobel laureates to reinvent history in the golden age of invention.'
— Zsuzsi Gartner, author of Better Living Through Plastic Explosives
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The author of The Evolution of Inanimate Objects intrigues with his second novel, an ambitious blend of fact and fiction. The reserved, unnamed narrator, a "retired psychiatrist and amateur historian" sets out to discover why Sigmund Freud never received a Nobel Prize, hoping to justify a career built upon Freud's "no longer venerated" theories. The plot changes course when his research reveals the existence of a curious contest established by Alfred Nobel: 60,000 Swedish kronor to the person who solves the mystery of Stonehenge. Karlinsky paints a touching picture of the lonely Nobel who becomes enamoured of Stonehenge via the passion of its caretaker, Florence Antrobus. The book is largely composed of absorbing letters written by a host of the 20th century's most impressive men and women. Karlinsky captures the boldness of Theodore Roosevelt, the genius of Marie Curie, and the wit of Albert Einstein as they offer their proposals to solve the mystery. The book seamlessly combines the real and the imagined with the help of photographs and excerpts from the works of its illustrious cast. It is at times more like a history textbook than a work of fiction but rewards with surprising touches of humor and a nuanced take on the lives of Nobel winners.
