Author Information

John Burnside's recent books include the poetry collection All One Breath, the short story collection Something Like Happy, which won the Saltire Scottish Book of the Year, the novel A Summer of Drowning, which was nominated for the Costa Prize 2011, and his poetry collection Black Cat Bone, which won both the Forward Prize 2011 and the T.S. Eliot Prize for Poetry. He is a professor of English at the University of St Andrews.

Blurb

In Persian mythology, it is said that Akbar the Great once built a palace filled with newborn children, cared for only by the mute, to discover whether language is innate or learned. This book explores the possibilities inherent in a modern repetition of Akbar's investigations.

Summary

As a child, Luke's mother often tells him the story of the Mute House, an experiment with newborn babies.