Case Study

London, 1965. An unworldly young woman believes that a charismatic psychotherapist, Collins Braithwaite, has driven her sister to suicide. Intent on confirming her suspicions, she assumes a false identity and presents herself to him as a client, recording her experiences in a series of notebooks. But she soon finds herself drawn into a world in which she can no longer be certain of anything. Even her own character. In Case Study, Graeme Macrae Burnet presents these notebooks interspersed with his own biographical research into Collins Braithwaite. The result is a dazzling – and often wickedly humorous – meditation on the nature of sanity, identity and truth itself, by one of the most inventive novelists writing today.

About the Author :
Graeme Macrae Burnet is the author of the 'fiendishly readable' His Bloody Project, which was shortlisted for the 2016 Booker Prize and the LA Times Book Awards. It won the Saltire Prize for Fiction and has been published to great acclaim in twenty languages around the world. His latest novel, Case Study has been longlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize, shortlisted for the Ned Kelly International Crime Prize and longlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize. Hannah Kent (Burial Rites) has called it 'a novel of mind-bending brilliance.' He is also the author of The Disappearance of Adèle Bedeau and The Accident on the A35 both set in the unremarkable town of Saint-Louis in the Alsace and featuring the downtrodden Inspector Georges Gorski. Serena Manteghi is an established theatre practitioner and performer, working extensively in new writing, devising, and physical storytelling. She is particularly noted for the dexterity of her voice work in theatre, notably on productions such as 'Little Voice' and 'Build a Rocket' and in 2017, she was shortlisted for the BBC Radio Norman Beaton Fellowship Award. She is the recipient of the following awards: The 'Sunday Mail' Award for Best Female Solo Show 2019, BankSA Best Theatre Award. Born in Glasgow, Graeme Rooney trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. In 2009 he co-wrote and starred as one third of the sketch show 'The Ginge, The Geordie and The Geek' at the Edinburgh festival. Following sell-out Edinburgh festivals and critical acclaim the show toured the UK and was commissioned for a series on BBC2. Television and Film credits include - 'The Ginge, The Geordie and The Geek' (BBC), 'Doc Martin' (ITV), 'Bad Education' (BBC), and 'Coronation Street' (ITV). Theatre credits include - 'The Play That Goes Wrong' (Duchess Theatre, West End), 'Sex and the Three Day Week' (Liverpool Playhouse), and 'Mental' (Soho Theatre).

Review :
'A novel of mind-bending brilliance ... Burnet is a master ... and Case Study shows him at the height of his powers.' 'Encourages us to look more closely at the inherent instability of fiction itself … genuinely affecting … a very funny book.' 'Brilliant, bamboozling … Burnet captures his characters’ voices so brilliantly that what might have been just an intellectual game feels burstingly alive and engaging.' 'Such is Burnet’s skill that he immediately convinces the reader that everything he is about to say is based on historical fact … brilliantly depicted … intriguing … compulsive reading.' Graeme Rooney and Serena Manteghi deliver engrossing performances of characters who become increasingly unreliable. During the 1960s Collins Braithwaite was a rising star in the world of psychotherapy. He published a single book, which launched him into the elite status of a public intellectual, despite his questionable treatment methods. After his death, an untouched series of his journal entries is delivered to an expert, who publishes them. Mangteghi handles the bulk of the audiobook, including portraying a young woman who assumed an alternate identity, posed as a patient, and infiltrated Braithwaite's practice. Graeme's portrayal of the Braithwaite expert who provides commentary throughout unbalances the listener even more. Both performances are cerebral and intriguing as they illuminate these slippery characters.