A Smell of Burning

[A] brilliant, tender book… An extraordinary work of love and art, which left me choked with tears. – Maggie Gee * Observer *A moving memoir as well as a historical study of epilepsy… With verve and sensitivity, Grant tells the stories of individual sufferers. – James McConnachie * Sunday Times, Book of the Year *Grant’s exploration of the literary, political, medical and scientific history of epilepsy is hugely compelling; his telling of the story of two brothers transcends the book’s twin genres and leaves us with a wry, gentle masterpiece. – Seamus Sweeney * Times Literary Supplement A fascinating personal and historical account. **** – Helen Brown * Sunday Telegraph *A flawless amalgam of personal memoir, mind science and medical history. – Ian Thomson * Spectator *In writing A Smell of Burning… Grant may yet save more lives as a writer than he did as a doctor. – Helen Brown * Daily Telegraph *As a memoir of Christopher’s trajectory of illness it is tenderly expressed, and the book is a poignant evocation of grief and regret. – Gavin Francis * Guardian *He brings a core of expert knowledge and skill as a communicator to the story… [An] absorbing and sometimes horrifying tale. – John Gribbon * Literary Review *At its best is like the works of other medics-turned-authors Atul Gawande and Henry Marsh. – Tom Whipple * The Times *[Grant] helps us gain an eminently accessible insight into a world that…is still shrouded in mystery. It is a touching tale of brotherly love. – Helen Davies * Sunday Times *

Colin Grant is an author, historian, and critic. He has written acclaimed biographies of the Wailers and of Marcus Garvey.

• Bageye at the Wheel, his memoir of growing up in a Caribbean family in 1970s Luton, was shortlisted for the PEN Ackerley Prize.
• His history of epilepsy, A Smell of Burning, was a Sunday Times Book of the Year.
• Homecoming - Voices of the Windrush Generation was a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week and Daily Telegraph Book of the Year.
• His most recent book, I’m Black So You Don’t Have to Be, was a New Statesman Book of the Year.

He is director of WritersMosaic, a division of the RLF, and a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

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