"There are certain books we call great for want of a better term, that rise like monuments above the cemeteries of literature: Clarissa Harlowe, Great Expectations, Ulysses. The Rack to my mind is one of this company." - Graham Greene "A terrific book . . . a penetrating examination of the nature of suffering . . . to read it is in itself an experience." - Time and Tide "Quite possibly a masterpiece." - Irish Times "Book of the year if there ever was one." - V. S. Pritchett, New Statesman "A work of sombre power, of soaring comedy." - Cyril Connolly, Sunday Times "[V]ery remarkable . . . Ellis"s humour is grim, but behind the book one has the impression of an unusual and powerful mind." - The Observer "Then consider yourself an experiment of the gods in what a man can endure . . ." This is the sardonic advice of a doctor to his patient, a young Englishman suffering from tuberculosis in the days before effective antibiotic...