A Case of Knives

by Candia Mcwilliam (Author), Candida Mcwilliam (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  1992

  $3.23

• Used

  Paperback
  1998

  $18.31

  Lucas Salik, eminent surgeon, is accustomed to performing bold experiments on other people's hearts. Many might think him cold-hearted, but Lucas is in love with Hal Darbo and sees his desperate, tenuous hold on him slipping away with Hal's intention to marry. With his friend and confidante Anne Cowdenbeath, Lucas embarks on an experiment far odder than any that takes place in his working life. His subject is Cora, a young girl without family ties and ripe for emotional vivisection. But blood sports turn out to be more dangerous than anticipated and sinister happenings begin to disrupt the surgeon's tidy plan ...'Very fresh, very sharp, and as memorable as a nightmare. It is a brilliant and distinguished book. I was astounded by it' Peter Levi 'Poised, startling and innovative ...an astonishingly accomplished writer' Anita Brookner 'This writing is so extraordinary that I am tempted to call it an opera. It is a high and extravagant style, voluptuous, avid and epigrammatic, passionate and risky' Sunday Telegraph 'For sheer flair, this is a debut of the highest promise' Sunday Times

• Used

  Hardcover
  1987

  $3.23

  Lucas Salik is a famous surgeon accustomed to performing bold experiments on other people's hearts and used to being in control of his patients' lives. His closest friend, Anne Cowdenbeath is a woman used to being in control of her ordered existence, whose own heart had long been frozen by the unnatural deaths of her husband and son. Together they embark on quite another type of experiment, the emotional vivisection of a young girl, Cora, who is conveniently without family ties. However, things do not go as smoothly as they planned and sinister happenings begin to disrupt the tidy plan. This is a novel where the hunters and hunted frequently change places and random wounds abound; only life, which in itself is unpredictable, brings healing.