"On a stormy night in 1813, a doctor is called to the aid of two prostitutes in childbirth. To one is born a healthy girl, Henriette, to the other, what can only be described as a monster: a boy, Hercules, deaf-mute and hideously deformed, and with the power to read minds. This is a picaresque fable of the love that grows between Hercules and Henriette during their childhood, and which will entwine their fates for ever. Vallgren paints a cast of grotesques in a magical and atmospheric tour of nineteenth-century Europe: the swags and tails of the bordello, where Hercules is born; the phantasmagoria of the freak show, with which he travels; the sinister grandeur of the Jesuit monasteries, in which he finds both shelter and peril; the squalor of the asylum, where he finds only pain. The Horrific Sufferings of the Mind-reading Monster Hercules Barefoot tells of social oppression, official corruption and religious persecution, but is, at its heart, a marvellous love story. Moving, uplifting, at times dark and macabre, this novel stretches the bounds of imagination, presenting the bizarre as the everyday and leading you through it like a child, wide-eyed in wonder at a carnival." (pinched the synopsis off of Amazon)
Needing a change I decided to pick a book based on an interesting sounding title, this is what I picked, luckily it did not backfire and I liked this book so much I will be adding the hardback to my wishlist so I find it as a keeper! It is difficult for me to go into too many details without spoiling the story so I won't but I was gripped from start to finish (the last 80 pages being read in the car coming back from Cornwall fighting off carsickness to get to the end) and will admit to even shedding a little tear or two at times. Highly recommended and would give it 9/10!