The Martian: A Novel

What if a child survived death and returned with powers beyond human comprehension? That's the question at the heart of George Du Maurier's mesmerizing novel about Barty Josselin, a young English boy who, after a near-fatal fever at age three, develops extraordinary mental abilities. Barty can read minds, influence emotions, and bend others to his will. Yet despite these godlike gifts, he remains fundamentally alone, a Martian among humans, as he calls himself, forever apart from ordinary people. Set partly at a French boarding school where his gifts first manifest, the novel traces his journey from peculiar child to a man whose powers grow ever more terrifying. Du Maurier, the celebrated Punch caricaturist and author of Trilby, brings sharp wit and psychological insight to this strange tale of isolation and exceptionalism. The novel asks what it means to be truly different, and whether extraordinary ability is a blessing or a curse. Darkly funny, genuinely unsettling, and surprisingly moving.