"Delightfully horrifying."—Popular ScienceThis wryly humorous collection of stories about bizarre medical treatments and cases offers a unique portrait of a bygone era in all its jaw-dropping weirdness. A puzzling series of dental explosions beginning in the nineteenth century is just one of many strange tales that have long lain undiscovered in the pages of old medical journals. Award-winning medical historian Thomas Morris delivers one of the most remarkable, cringe-inducing collections of stories ever assembled. Witness Mysterious Illnesses (such as the Rhode Island woman who peed through her nose), Horrifying Operations (1781: A French soldier in India operates on his own bladder stone), Tall Tales (like the "amphibious infant" of Chicago, a baby that could apparently swim underwater for half an hour), Unfortunate Predicaments (such as that of the boy who honked like a goose after inhaling a bird's larynx), and... A mysterious epidemic of dental explosions, A teenage boy who got his wick stuck in a candlestick A remarkable woman who, like a human fountain, spurted urine from virtually every orifice These are just a few of the anecdotal gems that have until now lain undiscovered in medical journals for centuries. This fascinating collection of historical curiosities explores some of the strangest cases that have perplexed doctors across the world. From seventeenth-century Holland to Tsarist Russia, from rural Canada to a whaler in the Pacific, many are monuments to human stupidity – such as the sailor who swallowed dozens of penknives to amuse his shipmates, or the chemistry student who in 1850 arrived at a hospital in New York with his penis trapped inside a bottle, having unwisely decided to relieve himself into a vessel containing highly reactive potassium. Others demonstrate exceptional surgical ingenuity long before the advent of anaesthesia – such as a daring nineteenth-century operation to remove a metal fragment from beneath a conscious patient’s heart. We also hear of the weird, often hilarious remedies employed by physicians of yore – from crow’s vomit to port-wine enemas – the hazards of such everyday objects as cucumbers and false teeth, and miraculous recovery from apparently terminal injuries.

A GRANTA BEST YOUNG BRITISH NOVELIST 2023 'Brilliant, funny, unsettling. . . Thomas Morris is a master of the contemporary short story' SALLY ROONEY'With precision, wry humour and a generous heart, Morris visits life's agonies and ecstasies.' NATHAN FILER'A fierce and tender suite of stories' LUCY CALDWELL'Thomas Morris is incredibly gifted within the form. It's so heartening to read his work.' SARAH HALL'Funny, sad, complex, unexpected, and worthy of multiple readings.' JON MCGREGOR'Pleasurably off-kilter, gently acerbic and sadly wise' COLIN BARRETT The new collection from a literary star - five achingly tender, innovative and dazzling stories of (dis)connection. From a child attending his first football match, buoyed by secret magic, and a wincingly humane portrait of adolescence, to the perplexity of grief and loss through the eyes of a seahorse, Thomas Morris seeks to find grace, hope and benevolence...