The Sleeping Beauties

O’Sullivan doesn’t offer easy answers. She just shows us, with wonderful compassion and the minimum of judgment, the ways in which people across the world have manifested symptoms that have helped them through – or beyond – painful situations . . . It is, in every sense, mind-blowing.Helen Brown, Daily Telegraph

Neurologist Suzanne O'Sullivan takes us on a tour of puzzling and seemingly inexplicable illnesses, including a sleeping sickness that affects refugee children in Sweden, severe headaches afflicting embassy staff in Cuba and mass outbreaks of fainting among Colombian schoolgirls. It's utterly fascinating, and told with extraordinary compassion.Alex Clark, The Financial Times

O'Sullivan travels the world collecting fascinating stories of culture-bound syndromes, which she relays with nuance and sensitivity.Alice Robb, New Statesman

A bracing read, a little like a cold shower on a hot summer’s day.Marcus Berkmann, Daily Mail