Author(s): Hilary Mantel

Fiction

Based on the true story, this is the tale of the 18th Century Irish giant, Charles O'Brien.

He was exhibited in London and eventually dissected by the surgeon Charles Hunter, and his bones hang to this day in the Hunterian Museum in Lincoln's Inn Field. Charles O'Brien, bard and giant. The cynical are moved by his flights of romance; the craven stirred by his tales of epic deeds. But what of his own story as he is led from Ireland to seek his fortune beyond the seas in England?
The Surprising Irish Giant may be the sensation of the season but only his compatriots seem to attend to his mythic powers of invention. A motley court surrounds him: slow witted Jankin; the thrusting Claffey brothers; sharp-tongued Bride Claskey, the procuress. None so low as Bitch Mary, and none so opportunistic as impressario Joe Vance, yet London shall make its mark on them all.
In addition to the daunting task of taking his storytelling across the sea, The Giant O'Brien must be wary of John Hunter, a celebrated surgeon and anatomist who buys dead men from the gallows and the corpses of babies by the inch. The only problem for John Hunter is that the Giant is still alive. But for how long?