98 Reasons for Being - Softcover

'Gripping ... the plot gradually unravels in a most absorbing manner, clues and hints subtly weaving their way into the book ... a new voice in original, entertaining and challenging fiction.' -- Cathryn Scott, Big Issue 'An unsettling, weirdly evocative novel, evidently superbly researched ... the novel's images of the dawn of modern psychiatry and its portrait of doctor and patient struggling together towards the light remain memorably poignant.' -- Jon Barnes, Times Literary Supplement '[An] interesting, elegant tale' -- Jessica Mann, Sunday Telegraph 'Hannah's inner thoughts are delicately handled ... and her story is touching.' -- Eva Figes, Guardian

In1850s Frankfurt, a Jewish girl named Hannah Meyer entersthe town asylum, rumoured to be suffering from nymphomania.She is treated byDr Heinrich Hoffmann, physician and famed author of the book of children's cautionary tales, Struwwelpeter,whouses everymethodfrom ice packs to electrodesin an effort to cure her. Nothing works, until he resorts to talking -- telling her anecdotes from his youth, revealingthe"case historiesof Hannah's fellow patients, confessing to his troubled home life. Only then does Hannah begin to yield herhauntingtale of love, prejudice and transgression.