In Matto's Realm by Friedrich Glaiser

In Matto's Realm

Friedrich Glaiser

If Agatha Christie had written 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' the result might have been something like this classic whodunnit set in a Swiss Psychiatric Hospital in 1936. This author is legendary in continental Europe and it's great that he's now available in the UK in translation. Thank you Bitter Lemon Press.

Extract
'Where does Matto's realm end, Studer?' the doctor asked quietly. 'At the fence round Randlingen Clinic? You once talked about a spider sitting in the middle of its web. The threads reach out, they spread over the whole world. Matto flings his balls and his paper streamers .... You'll be thinking I'm a poetic psychiatrist. That wouldn't be a bad thing. It's not much we want, just to bring a little reason into the world.'
Parallels
  • The Fashion in Shrouds by Margery Allingham
  • Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear
  • Slaughterhouse Five by Karl Vonnegut