Shadows Beneath Gaslights

Dr Rowland Berkley is an upper-middle-class intellectual, revolted by the modern world and his own existence. Weary of the optimism of his well-meaning brother Joseph, who works as manager of a factory owned by magnate John Calhoun, Rowland divides his time between study, vapid social engagements and bouts of existential disgust. He seeks respite in his work as a philosopher of phrenology, initially unconcerned by the murky methods through which his mentor secures dead bodies for anatomical...