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Human Traces

The moving, powerful prequel to Snow Country from the Sunday Times bestseller

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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

As young boys, both Jacques Rebière and Thomas Midwinter become fascinated with trying to understand the human mind. As psychiatrists, their quest takes them from the squalor of the Victorian lunatic asylum to the crowded lecture halls of the renowned Professor Charcot in Paris; from the heights of the Sierra Madre in California to the plains of unexplored Africa.

As the concerns of the old century fade and the First World War divides Europe, the two men's volatile relationship develops and changes, but is always tempered by one exceptional woman; Thomas's sister Sonia.

'Shocking and enlightening... touching and affecting' DAILY MAIL

'A masterpiece . . . one of the great novels of this or any other century' INDEPENDENT

'Structurally intricate, yet intensely focused on the lives of individuals . . . replete with interesting ideas and . . . exceptionally fine writing' OBSERVER

'A bold and remarkable work of imagination . . . to write so well for so many pages is an amazing feat of intellectual athleticism' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

© Sebastian Faulks 2005 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

 Fiction Friendship Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Medical

Critic reviews

A fascinating and insightful read. (Natasha Usher)
An extraordinary novel of magnificent scope
Faulks is beyond doubt a master
His most ambitious novel yet... Love, loyalty, courage, compassion, goodness...these are the poles around which his always skilful storytelling revolves
Shocking and enlightening...touching and affecting
He is the best novelist of his generation
An epic of a novel...in some ways better than Birdsong, or at least more subtle and far ranging
This is a bold and remarkable work of imagination, particularly in its daring remastery of the 19th-century novel form and the sustained grace of its prose. To write so well for so many hundreds of pages is an amazing feat of intellectual athleticism (Jane Shilling)
Faulks has woven dozens of compelling voices together to produce an extraordinary novel of magnificent scope (Jonathan Ree)
[S]tructurally intricate, yet intensely focused on the lives of individuals...Human Traces is replete with interesting ideas and contains some exceptionally fine topographic writing (Jane Stevenson)
All stars
Most relevant
I have so enjoyed this book. Stunning work from Sebastian and the narration made it very real.

Absolute Brilliant

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I totally enjoyed this book, and SF gives us so much food for thought about what it is to be human and about the co-evolution of self awareness and predisposition to mental health problems, and yet all inside a fascinating engaging story. Brilliant job!

Enthralling, brilliant and thought-provoking

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It's a long and gripping tale but the narration is hard to follow - speech so slurred and rushed I had to listen at 0.9x speed in order to understand. I've not had this problem before on audible - would recommend the book but not this reading

Great story, poorly read

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one if the best book I were read....Faulks is an incredible author. scientifically interesting and a depth other authors strive for

one if the best books I ever read

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Really interesting story of the search for an understanding and cure for “madness”. Well written (although, for some, the details of the theories and medical interventions may be too detailed) and very moving at times. However, the narration was often mumbled and too many voices sounded the same as one another. It was irritating and more than once I nearly gave up. Glad I persevered, however.

Fascinating story

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