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The Strange Case of Jane O.

About the Book

The Strange Case of Jane O.

In this spellbinding and provocative novel from the New York Times bestselling author of THE AGE OF MIRACLES, a young mother is struck by sudden and puzzling psychological symptoms that illuminate the mysterious dimensions of the human mind --- and of love.

A year after her child is born, Jane suffers a series of strange episodes: amnesia, premonitions, hallucinations and an inexplicable sense of dread. Three days after her first visit to a psychiatrist, Jane suddenly goes missing. A day later she is found unconscious in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, in the midst of what seems to be an episode of dissociative fugue. When she comes to, she has no memory of what has happened to her.

Are Jane’s strange experiences the result of being overwhelmed by motherhood, or are they manifestations of a long-buried trauma from her past? Why is she having visions of a young man who died 20 years ago and who warns her of a disaster ahead? Jane’s symptoms lead her psychiatrist ever deeper into the farthest reaches of her mind and cause him to question everything he thinks he knows about so-called reality --- including events in his own life.

Karen Thompson Walker’s profound and beautifully written novel is both a speculative mystery about memory, identity and fate, and a mesmerizing literary puzzle about the bonds of love --- between mother and child, between a man and a woman, and among those we’ve lost but who may still be among us.

The Strange Case of Jane O.
by Karen Thompson Walker

  • Publication Date: February 25, 2025
  • Genres: Fiction
  • Hardcover: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Random House
  • ISBN-10: 1984853945
  • ISBN-13: 9781984853943