Synopses & Reviews
Coming soon as a major motion picture by Anthony Minghella, Oscar-winning director of The English PatientMeet Louis Drax, the Amazing Accident-Prone Boy.
Louis Drax is a boy like no other. He is brilliant and strange, and every year something violent seems to happen to him. His psychologist is baffled, and his mother lives in a constant state of panic. He has always managed to survive-to land on his feet, like a cat. But cats have only nine lives, and Louis has used up eight, one for every year.
On his ninth birthday, Louis goes on a picnic with his parents and falls off a cliff. The details are shrouded in mystery. Louis's mother is shell-shocked; his father has vanished. And after some confusion Louis himself, miraculously alive but deep in a coma, arrives at Dr. Pascal Dannachet's celebrated coma clinic.
Was the fall really an accident? If anyone knows, they're not telling. Until one day, still deep within his coma, Louis meets the bandaged figure who calls himself Gustave, and begins to tell his tale...
The Ninth Life of Louis Drax is the story of a family falling apart, told in the vivid voices of its comatose son and Dr. Dannachet as he is drawn into the Draxes' circle. Full of astonishing twists and turns, this is a masterful tale of the secrets the human mind can hide.
Liz Jensen is the acclaimed author of four novels, including War Crimes for the Home. She lives in London. The hero of this novel, Louis Drax, is a boy like no other. He is brilliant and odd, and every year something violent seems to happen to him. He has always managed to surviveto land on his feet, like a cat. But cats have only nine lives, and Louis has used up eight thus far. On his ninth birthday, Louis goes on a picnic with his parents and falls off a cliff. The details are shrouded in mystery. Louis's mother is shell-shocked; his father has vanished. And after some confusion Louis himself, miraculously alive but deep in a coma, arrives at Dr. Pascal Dannachet's celebrated coma clinic. The Ninth Life of Louis Drax is the story of a family falling apart, told in the vivid voices of its comatose son and Dr. Dannachet as he is drawn into the Draxes' circle. Full of astonishing twists and turns, this is a masterful tale of the secrets the human mind can hide. "Liz Jensen has written a remarkable suspense novel: tart, mysterious, and wrenching."Anthony Minghella, director The English Patient and Cold Mountain "Wonderfully unsettling . . . an oddly beautiful journey into the darkest corners of the human soul."Mail on Sunday
"A gripping psychological thriller with a Gothic flavor . . . her tautest novel to date. Its unputdownable quality and its creation of a convincing voice for a 'disturbed' child (as Louis proudly describes himself) are reminiscent of mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. It deserves similar success."Sunday Telegraph
"Liz Jensen has created an extraordinary character in the shape of Louis Drax . . . A magnetic read that will delight and disturb in equal measures."Daily Mail
"Louis Drax isn't like other children. The morbidly imaginative and sharply intuitive boy from a provincial city in France has survived eight suspicious accidents, one for each year of his life. On his ninth birthday, Louis suffers a mysterious fall from a cliff and ends up in Dr. Pascal Dannachet's experimental coma clinic, where the truth of his most recent mishap will be revealed. So begins British novelist Jensen's fourth book, a fiercely intelligent psychological thriller told from the alternating perspectives of the comatose Louis and the professionally conflicted Dr. Dannachet. As the French police search for Pierre Drax, the prime suspect in his son's fall, Louis negotiates the unconscious world with Gustave, his grotesque, bandaged imaginary companion, and Dr. Dannachet reluctantly falls in love with Louis's mother, Natalie. Behind the many twists and turns that ensue is a multilayered, genuinely convincing emotional drama that adds substance to the suspense. Families are torn apart, scientists are confounded by the miraculous, and the human heart unleashes its many secrets. Jensen's gift for black humor and off-kilter narratives shines throughout this page-turner, and her understanding of fractured psyches and their ability to heal is remarkable. The idiosyncrasies of her peculiar characters only make them more engaging, and at the end of Jensen's gripping tale, the reader is left eager for more."Library Journal
"For everybody who thought they'd never see another novel like The Lovely Bones, a neurologist in Provence struggles to get a comatose nine-year-old to tell what put him into a persistent vegetative state. Precociously acerbic Louis Drax has always been accident-prone. The Caesarian section that gave him birth nearly killed his mother. He's survived food poisoning, salmonella, tetanus, botulism, and meningitis. Louis's luck seems to run out on the day his estranged parents reunite long enough to take him to the Auvergne to celebrate his ninth birthday. Their picnic ends when Louis tumbles over a cliff and drowns in the river below while Pierre Drax runs away. But Louis hasn't really drowned, as an alert morgue attendant notices that night. For months after his return from the dead, Louis improves until a seizure sends him to the care of Dr. Pascal Dannachot, of the Clinique de l'Horizon, formerly l'Hopital des Incurables, and it's here that British novelist Jensen, letting Louis and Dannachot take turns telling the story, heats things up. Dannachot's unorthodox therapies don't succeed in enticing Louis out of his coma, but his probe of Louis's last day releases a torrent of dark secrets about Pierre and Natalie Drax. And as Louis, who has no intention of returning to a world of bickering parents and mocking schoolmates, enjoys the balm of new friendship with Gustave, the spectral figure who welcomes him to his ninth life, the intimacy the unsuspecting doctor seeks with both his young patient and the boy's inconsolable mother turns toxic. A series of letters ostensibly written by the comatose boy accuses Dannachot of designs on Natalie Drax and warns of dire developmentsthough few readers will imagine the calamities still to come. By turns disarmingly comical, absorbingly suspenseful, and finally shattering."Kirkus Reviews
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"Liz Jensen has written a remarkable suspense novel: tart, mysterious, and wrenching." Anthony Minghella, director of The English Patient and Cold Mountain
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"Assured, hilarious, and insightful." Time Out
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"One of our best writers, sometimes surreal, sometimes down to earth, always witth a great and embracing human sympathy." Mail on Sunday
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"Sharp, funky, funny, and prophetic." Fay Weldon
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"A gripping and intelligent psychological thriller filled with crafty insights, black humor and grim twists...Fresh and original."
Miami Herald
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"Assured, hilarious, and insightful."
Review
"Sharp, funky, funny, and prophetic."
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"Sharp, funky, funny, and prophetic."(Fay Weldon)
Review
"Assured, hilarious, and insightful."(Time Out)
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"Jensen has a real gift for wickedly black humor." Publishers Weekly
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"A gripping and intelligent psychological thriller filled with crafty insights, black humor and grim twists.Fresh and original."
Review
"Unputdownable."
Review
"For everybody who thought they'd never see another novel like The Lovely Bones...By turns disarmingly comical, absorbingly suspenseful, and finally shattering."
Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Review
Review
"Wonderfully strange...An affecting psychological novel about transgression and the mysteries of the subconscious." People
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"The Ninth Life of Louis Drax packs an irresistibly twisted wallop...An exhilarating, darkly inventive read."
Elle
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"A taut, briskly paced story that balances literature and suspense...The Ninth Life is first-rate." Time Out New York
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"Unputdownable." New York Post
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"Try putting down a book that begins: 'I'm not most kids. I'm Louis Drax. Stuff happens to me that shouldn't happen, like going on a picnic where you drown.'...Wonderfully strange...an affecting psychological novel about transgression and the mysteries of the subconscious."
People (four stars)
Synopsis
Coming soon as a major motion picture by Anthony Minghella, Oscar-winning director of
The English Patient. Meet Louis Drax, the Amazing Accident-Prone Boy.
Louis Drax is a boy like no other. He is brilliant and strange, and every year something violent seems to happen to him. His psychologist is baffled, and his mother lives in a constant state of panic. He has always managed to survive to land on his feet, like a cat. But cats have only nine lives, and Louis has used up eight, one for every year.
On his ninth birthday, Louis goes on a picnic with his parents and falls off a cliff. The details are shrouded in mystery. Louis's mother is shell-shocked; his father has vanished. And after some confusion Louis himself, miraculously alive but deep in a coma, arrives at Dr. Pascal Dannachet's celebrated coma clinic.
Was the fall really an accident? If anyone knows, they're not telling. Until one day, still deep within his coma, Louis meets the bandaged figure who calls himself Gustave, and begins to tell his tale...
The Ninth Life of Louis Drax is the story of a family falling apart, told in the vivid voices of its comatose son and Dr. Dannachet as he is drawn into the Draxes' circle. Full of astonishing twists and turns, this is a masterful tale of the secrets the human mind can hide.
Synopsis
Coming soon as a major motion picture by Anthony Minghella, Oscar-winning director of The English PatientMeet Louis Drax, the Amazing Accident-Prone Boy.
Louis Drax is a boy like no other. He is brilliant and strange, and every year something violent seems to happen to him. His psychologist is baffled, and his mother lives in a constant state of panic. He has always managed to survive-to land on his feet, like a cat. But cats have only nine lives, and Louis has used up eight, one for every year.
On his ninth birthday, Louis goes on a picnic with his parents and falls off a cliff. The details are shrouded in mystery. Louis's mother is shell-shocked; his father has vanished. And after some confusion Louis himself, miraculously alive but deep in a coma, arrives at Dr. Pascal Dannachet's celebrated coma clinic.
Was the fall really an accident? If anyone knows, they're not telling. Until one day, still deep within his coma, Louis meets the bandaged figure who calls himself Gustave, and begins to tell his tale...
The Ninth Life of Louis Drax is the story of a family falling apart, told in the vivid voices of its comatose son and Dr. Dannachet as he is drawn into the Draxes' circle. Full of astonishing twists and turns, this is a masterful tale of the secrets the human mind can hide.
Synopsis
Louis Drax is a boy like no other. He is brilliant and strange, and every year something violent seems to happen to him. On his ninth birthday, Louis goes on a picnic with his parents and falls off a cliff. The details are shrouded in mystery. Louis's mother is shell-shocked; his father has vanished. And after some confusion Louis himself, miraculously alive but deep in a coma, arrives at Dr. Pascal Dannachet's celebrated coma clinic...Full of astonishing twists and turns, this is a masterful tale of the secrets the human mind can hide.
About the Author
Liz Jensen is the acclaimed author of four novels, most recently War Crimes for the Home. She lives in London.
CITATION: "Liz Jensen has written a remarkable suspense novel: tart, mysterious, and wrenching."(Anthony Minghella, director of The English Patient and Cold Mountain)
CITATION: "Jensen has a real gift for wickedly black humor."(Publishers Weekly)
CITATION: "Assured, hilarious, and insightful."(Time Out)
CITATION: "One of our best writers, sometimes surreal, sometimes down to earth, always with a great and embracing human sympathy."(Mail on Sunday)
CITATION: "Sharp, funky, funny, and prophetic."(Fay Weldon)
CITATION: "Wonderfully strange.An affecting psychological novel about transgression and the mysteries of the subconscious."(People)
CITATION: "For everybody who thought they'd never see another novel like The Lovely Bones...Disarmingly comical, absorbingly suspenseful, and finally shattering."
(Kirkus Reviews)
CITATION: "Packs an irresistibly twisted wallop.An exhilarating, darkly inventive read."
(Elle)
CITATION: "Liz Jensen has written a remarkable suspense novel: tart, mysterious and wrenching."
(Anthony Minghella)
CITATION: "A taut, briskly paced story that balances literature and suspense.The Ninth Life is first-rate."
(Time Out New York)
CITATION: "A gripping and intelligent psychological thriller filled with crafty insights, black humor and grim twists.Fresh and original."
(Miami Herald)
CITATION: "Unputdownable."
(New York Post)
Exclusive Essay
Read an exclusive essay by Liz Jensen