Liz Jensen is an English novelist, born in 1959. She worked initially as a journalist, before moving to France to become a sculptor. She wrote her first novel, Egg Dancing, in 1995 and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature ten years later. The Ninth Life of Louis Drax was her fifth book, and was first published in 2004.

Louis Drax is nine years old, and has got to be one of the unluckiest people on the planet. He has, over the years, survived a variety of diseases and accidents - meningitis, botulism and a tumble onto Lyon's metro tracks. His mum, Natalie, has mentioned that if Louis was a cat he'd have used up eight of his lives by now - one life for every year he has lived so far.

It's maybe no surprise that Louis doesn't expect to make it into adulthood; nor is it any real surprise that he doesn't quite see the world in the same way the rest of us see it. (For example, he's had a series of hamsters - all called Mohammed - who he's killed if they live beyond two years. Apparently, he subscribes to a secret rule of pet-keeping called the Right of Disposal). He's an intelligent kid, but he has no friends and is disruptive at school - where he's been nicknamed Wacko Boy. At his father's suggestion, Louis had been having weekly appointments with a psychologist. Those sessions came to an end with his most recent - and quite possibly his most spectacular - accident. On a family picnic in the Auvergne, Louis fell into a ravine and died; his father also disappears, leaving his mother, Natalie, alone to deal with the aftermath. However, several hours later, Louis somehow comes back to life - although he's trapped in a coma. The boy is sent to a clinic in Provence, to be treated by Dr Pascal Dannachet.

The book alternates between Louis and Dr Dannachet, each telling their own story. Louis, trapped within his coma, shares his head with Gustave - a rather macabre character who's own head wrapped in bloody bandages. Louis' arrival, however, is the beginning of a whole bundle of trouble for the good Doctor : the police are still investigating the circumstances of Louis' accident, and Dannachet doesn't even know half the story of Louis' past. Then, there's the ethical problem of his overwhelming attraction to Louis' mum...

I'd picked this book up largely on the strength of "The Rapture" - which is also well worth reading, by the way. Although not exactly what I was expecting, I enjoyed "The Ninth Life of Louis Drax" thoroughly : things aren't quite as simple and straightforward as they seem, and Dannachet is central to solving the mystery of Louis' life. Louis himself only drip-feeds us information and, being so young, doesn't always know the full story. (Jensen has written very convincingly as Louis; you'd believe his sections of the story were really being told by a nine year old child). Very much recommended.

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Passed to Nessyjr.

Caught at the BookcrossingNI meetup

Really enjoyed this book - it was a fascinating storyline.
Releasing at BookcrossingNI meetup

Saw this book at Belfast Central train station over a year after I last seen it. Leaving it in the wild but nice to see it's still doing the rounds!