Kirjahaku

A medical mystery/fantasy/love story that delves into the nature of consciousness while raising the ethical and existential issues facing scientists today A contemporary Frankenstein that defies expectations, this is a thrilling novel about a journalist, Cédric Allyn-Weberson, who suffers a horrific accident, paralyzing him from the neck down. An ideal candidate for a body transplant, Cédric survives the surgery but has both physical and existential trouble with his recovery and adaptation: encountering his lover with a new body, discovering the life history of his donor, and attempting to understand the mind-body relationship as he lives it. Haddad explores the confusion and insignificance of a single consciousness before experience and identity: What is a head without a body? What or who is a lover with another’s body? The gruesome transplant (detailed in a manner that highlights the author’s diligent research and comprehension) parallels other ways humanity mutates nature globally. The novel is a provocative and timely allegory—a work of dystopian fantasy.

"Hats off to one of the most inventive writers of French literature. . . . Hubert Haddad concocts a colorful novel, funny and inventive, as clever as the Fox sisters themselves." Jean-Francois Delapre, Saint Christophe bookstoreThe Fox sisters grew up just outside of Rochester, NY, in a house that had a reputation for being haunted, due in large part to a series of strange "rappings" or "knockings" that plagued its inhabitants. Fed up by whatever was responsible for the knockings, the youngest of the sisters (who was twelve at the time) challenged the ghost and ended up communicating with the spirit of Charles Haynes, who had been murdered in the house and buried in the cellar.Thanks to the enthusiasm of one Isaac Post, the Fox sisters became instantly famous for talking to the dead, launching the Spiritualist Movement in the US. After taking Rochester by storm, the sisters moved to New York where they were the most famous mediums of the time, giving seances for hundreds of people.Then, it all fell apart, and the sisters were exposed as frauds. Nevertheless, even today the Fox sisters are considered to be the founders of Spiritualism, one of the most popular religious movements of the past couple centuries (consider the success of Long Island Medium and the hundreds of thousands who visit Lily Dale every year).Rich in historical detail, "Rochester Knockings "novelizes the rise and fall of these most infamous of mediums.Hubert Haddad was born in Tunisia, and is the author of dozens of works, including the novels "Palestine "(winner of the Prix des Cinq Continents de la Francophonie), "Tango chinois," and "La Condition magique "(winner of the Grand Prix du Roman de la Societe des Gens de Lettres)."