The Warlow Experiment

By Alix Nathan,

Book cover of The Warlow Experiment

Book description

A Sunday Times fiction book of the year
'She is an original, with a virtuoso touch' - Hilary Mantel
'An extraordinary, quite brilliant book' - C. J. Sansom
'A powerful and unsettling novel' - Andrew Taylor

The year is 1793 and Herbert Powyss is set on making his name as…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep the lights on. Or join the rebellion as a member.

Why read it?

1 author picked The Warlow Experiment as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Author Alix Nathan discovered an advertisement in a 1797 publication: A scientist offered a reward of 50 pounds a year for life to a man who would live alone in an underground bunker for seven years.

As a writer, I was intrigued: How would the author portray the man who would propose such an experiment, and who in the world would subject himself to it? Nathan’s scientist is himself a social misfit, and the man who comes forward for his experiment is a poor laborer.

Some say that writing spoils one for reading, and I constantly find myself trying to…

Want books like The Warlow Experiment?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like The Warlow Experiment.

Browse books like The Warlow Experiment

Book cover of The Castle of Otranto
Book cover of The Man Who Flattened the Earth: Maupertuis and the Sciences in the Enlightenment
Book cover of The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal about Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,099

readers submitted
so far, will you?

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in the Age of Enlightenment, presidential biography, and Europe?

Europe 956 books