A nineteenth-century tale of dangerous and pioneering ideas, based on the incredible true story of a scandalous British mathematician.

Howard Hinton and his family are living in Japan, escaping from a scandal. Hinton’s obsession is his work, his voyages into mathematical pure space, into the fourth dimension, but also his wife and sons, each of whom are entangled in the strange and unknown landscapes of Hinton’s science fictions.

In a bravura and startling meeting of real and philosophical elements, Mark Blacklock has created a ravishing period piece of late-Victorian social, scientific and domestic life. Hinton is about extraordinary discoveries, and terrible choices. It is about people who discover and map other realms, and what the implications might be for those of us left behind.

“A singular literary achievement.” —TheObserver

“A refreshing, unusual and enriching tale of sadness and scandal.” —Spectator

“Somewhere between detective novel, philosophical head-scratcher and historical page-turner, Hinton is a chimerical treat.” —Tatler

“A brilliant resurrectionist raid on the past as it should have unfolded. Mark Blacklock breathes new life into the tropes of detective fiction, occult mathematics and forensic science. He makes new mysteries out of re-forgotten enigmas.” —Iain Sinclair

Mark Blacklock

Books