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A visionary novel by "one of the most talented writers of his generation"—The Times Literary Supplement
Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize
Based on real events, The Quickening Maze won over UK critics and readers alike with its rapturous prose and vivid exploration of poetry and madness. Historically accurate yet brilliantly imagined, this is the debut publication of this elegant and riveting novel in the United States.
In 1837, after years of struggling with alcoholism and depression, the great nature poet John Clare finds himself in High Beach—a mental institution located in Epping Forest on the outskirts of London. It is not long before another famed writer, the young Alfred Tennyson, moves nearby and grows entwined in the catastrophic schemes of the hospital's owner, the peculiar Dr. Matthew Allen, his lonely adolescent daughter, and a coterie of mysterious local characters. With lyrical grace, the cloistered world of High Beach and its residents are brought richly to life in this enchanting book.
Adam Foulds
ADAM FOULDS was born in 1974, took a Creative Writing M.A. at the University of East Anglia, and now lives in South London. Foulds is the recipient of the 2008 Costa Poetry Award, for his book-length narrative poem, The Broken Word, as well as the 2008 Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, the 2008 Somerset Maugham Award, The Southbank Show Award for Literature and a 2007 Betty Trask Award. His novel The Quickening Maze was shortlisted for the 2009 Man Booker Prize. And it was announced at the 2013 London Book Fair that he is included on Granta's annual list of Best Young British Novelists, alongside Zadie Smith, Steven Hall, Tahmima Anam and Ross Raisin.
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