James Miranda Barry

At the turn of the nineteenth century, ten-year-old James Miranda

Barry enrolled as a medical student in Edinburgh, the start of a

glorious career as a military surgeon. Across the Empire, Barry achieved

fame not only as a brilliant physician, but also a legendary duellist

and a celebrated social figure. But James Miranda Barry was also a

woman. Her greatest achievement of all had been to ''pass'' for a man for

more than fifty years.



Patricia Duncker''s novel tells

Barry''s story for the first time, in a richly inventive and entertaining

tale of dark family secrets, adultery, questioned paternity and

colonial history. It confirms her rare talent as a writer of profound

ideas and immense storytelling power.