The sensual and lyrical tale of one man’s lonely Odyssey. Inspired by a true story.

James Norris: US Marine (1785-90), inmate of Bethlem Hospital for the Insane (1800-15).

1800, Bethlem Hospital for the Insane. James Norris, an American Marine is without his ship and without his freedom. After a violent incident, he is moved to solitary confinement, his body chained to a stake for fourteen years, his mind shackled to its own tragedies: the commission he never took; the brother he lost; the friend he rescued but who then betrayed him; the lover who lied to him; the life that could have been his. An intricate and compelling first-person narrative that elegantly shifts between present, past, dream and vision, and finally fusing together Norris’ mind, a man with a love for the sea, a cat called Davey and the unfaithful Ruth.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest meets Mutiny on the Bounty, this astonishing novel is an extraordinary exploration of betrayal, love, sanity, suffering, and compassion.