London 2011. Catherine Gehrig, conservator at the Swinburne museum, learns of the unexpected death of her lover of thirteen years - but as the mistress of a married man, she has to grieve in private. Her employer at the museum, aware of Catherine's grief, gives her a special project - to piece together both the mechanics and the story of an extraordinary automaton, commissioned in the nineteenth century by Henry Brandling to amuse his dying son. Linked by the mysterious automaton, Catherine and Henry's stories intertwine across time to explore the mysteries of life and death, the miracle and catastrophe of human invention and the body's astonishing chemistry of love and feeling.
- ISBN10 0571295355
- ISBN13 9780571295357
- Publish Date 5 April 2012 (first published 27 March 2012)
- Publish Status Transferred
- Out of Print 3 April 2016
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Faber & Faber
- Edition Signed ed
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 288
- Language English