The horrific sufferings of the mind-reading monster Hercules Barefoot : his wonderful love and his terrible hatred

A stormy night in 1813. Two babies are born to prostitutes. One child is a healthy girl; the other, a hideously deformed boy. This is the picaresque fable of the love that growsbetween the mute monster Hercules, who possesses the power to read minds, and the beautifulHenriette - a love that will entwine their fates forever. Carl-Johan Vallgren paints a cast of grotesqueries in a magical and atmospheric tour of nineteenth-century Europe: the swags and tails of the Bordello, where Hercules is born; the squalor of the asylum, where he finds only pain; the sinister grandeur of the Jesuit monasteries in which he finds both shelter and peril; and the phantasmagoria of the freak show with which he travels. The Horrific Sufferings of the Mind-Reading MonsterHercules Barefoot tells a tale of social oppression,official corruption, and religious persecution, but is, at its heart, an amazing 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. 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. As He Tells The Story Of Hercules' Bizarre And Colourful Life, Which Leads Him From The Bordello Of His Birth To A Travelling Freak Show And Then A Jesuit Monastery And An Asylum, Vallgren Paints A Magical Picture Of Nineteenth-century Europe. This Picaresque Fable Is Filled With Curiosities But Is, At Its Heart, An Extraordinary And Unforgettable Love Story. 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 title presents a fable of the love between Hercules and Henriette.