The Horrific Sufferings of the Mind-Reading Monster Hercules Barefoot His Wonderful Love and His Terrible Hatred

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.<br> <br> 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.