What strange secret made rich, beautiful, tempestuous Bella Baxter irresistible to the poor Scottish medical student Archie McCandless? Was it her mysterious origin in the home of his monstrous friend Godwin Baxter, the genius whose voice could perforate eardrums? This story of true love and scientific daring whirls the reader from the private operating-theatres of late-Victorian Glasgow through aristocratic casinos, low-life Alexandria and a Parisian bordello, reaching an interrupted climax in a Scottish church.
 | Alasdair GrayAlasdair Gray is a Glasgow writer and artist, most famous for his novel Lanark (1981): ‘if a city hasn’t been used by an artist, not even the inhabitants live there imaginatively’ remarks one of the characters, but Gray imagined and drew the city into its being in the late 20th century. His poetry has a similarly questioning, subversive tone but is also honest and painfully aware of loss. |
