A reward of £50 a year for life is offered to any man who will undertake to live for 7 years underground without seeing a human face: to let his toe and fingernails grow during the whole of his confinement, together with his beard. Commodious apartments are provided with cold bath, chamber organ, as many books as the occupier shall desire. Provisions will be served from Mr Powyss’s table. Every convenience desired will be provided

Herbert Powyss, Moreham House, Herefordshire, January 1793.

The premise of this novel would have been incredible, were if not for the fact that it is based on facts which actually occurred. In an Author’s note at the end of the book, Alix Nathan quotes an extract from the Annual Register for 1797 which describes the terms of the experiment more or less as reproduced in the introductory quote and adds that “it appears that an occupier offered himself for this singular residence, who is now in the fourth year of his probation, a labouring man, who has a large family, all of whom are maintained by Mr P.”

This nugget of curious information is all the more tantalizing, because there appears to be no account of the aftermath of this real-life experiment. Nathan, intrigued by the narrative opportunities of this episode, wrote two related short stories: An Experiment, Above and An Experiment, Below, reflecting, respectively, the point of view of the ‘scientist’ and ‘subject’. These stories eventually formed the basis of The Warlow Experiment, in which a wider canvas allows the author to enlarge her cast of characters and dwell longer on the historical backdrop.

We do not know the motivations of the real-life “Powyss”. Nathan’s is a recluse who prefers the company of his books and music at his residence, Moreham Hall, to the idle entertaining which seems to be expected of him. With no family, a frosty relationship with his servants and just one more-or-less like-minded friend, his only dream is of being recognized in scientific circles. This is what he sets out to do with his unique experiment. Shockingly, he does not seem to take into account the fact that, his subject being a human being, this would raise ethical issues. Powyss’ dogged determination is not tempered with enough humanity to make him realize that the consequences of his actions could be tragic. This seems to dawn on him only when he gets to know better Mrs Warlow, whom he supports during the course of the experiment. Not unexpectedly, he becomes attracted to this woman, so different from himself in class, background, education and temperament – this, ironically, makes him question the correctness of the “experiment” whilst only complicating an already explosive situation.

Nathan has drawn a compelling story out of the bare bones of the Annual Register account. The three-part narrative arc of the novel is satisfying (although some of the scenes, especially the final one, feels contrived) and I particularly admired the different voices and points of view which are very well brought out. The contrasting ‘narrators’ obviously reflect the origin of The Warlow Experiment as two short stories, but the novel also includes the voices of other characters, including Mrs Warlow. The characterization is complex – in this respect, one of the figures I liked best was the housemaid Catherine, whom we see developing from a frankly rather unpleasant young woman to a steely, determined and big-hearted figure.

The novel also works wonderfully as historical fiction. The late 18th Century was a period of philosophical and scientific inquiry but was also – possibly for the same reasons – a period of social turbulence, with revolutionary ideas sweeping across Europe. This backdrop serves to highlight the ‘social’ themes of the book.

Indeed, the experiment brings out the inherent injustices of a classist and patriarchal society. Powyss seems to expect that a ‘gentleman’ of his background would be interested in becoming a hermit for science. He does not stop to consider that the only person who might wish to give up his liberty for a ‘pension’ of fifty pounds would likely be someone more financially desperate. Despite Powyss’s attempts at being humane, the nature of the experiment itself turns Warlow into a dehumanised subject, and only serves to accentuate the divide between classes.

Moreover, it is suggested that, at all levels of society, it is women who suffer most: the educated and enlightened Powyss, his ‘progressive’ friend Fox, the firebrand Abraham Price with his dreams of equality – all become selfish and rapacious where women are concerned. At the same time, women are portrayed as the instigators of hope and redemption. In this respect, this is a worthy addition to a number of recent historical novels with a feminist streak

Visit https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/2019/07/warlow-experiment-alix-nathan.html for a complete review including music by composers mentioned in the novel. ( )

A reward of £50 a year for life is offered to any man who will undertake to live for 7 years underground without seeing a human face: to let his toe and fingernails grow during the whole of his confinement, together with his beard. Commodious apartments are provided with cold bath, chamber organ, as many books as the occupier shall desire. Provisions will be served from Mr Powyss’s table. Every convenience desired will be provided

Herbert Powyss, Moreham House, Herefordshire, January 1793.

The premise of this novel would have been incredible, were if not for the fact that it is based on facts which actually occurred. In an Author’s note at the end of the book, Alix Nathan quotes an extract from the Annual Register for 1797 which describes the terms of the experiment more or less as reproduced in the introductory quote and adds that “it appears that an occupier offered himself for this singular residence, who is now in the fourth year of his probation, a labouring man, who has a large family, all of whom are maintained by Mr P.”

This nugget of curious information is all the more tantalizing, because there appears to be no account of the aftermath of this real-life experiment. Nathan, intrigued by the narrative opportunities of this episode, wrote two related short stories: An Experiment, Above and An Experiment, Below, reflecting, respectively, the point of view of the ‘scientist’ and ‘subject’. These stories eventually formed the basis of The Warlow Experiment, in which a wider canvas allows the author to enlarge her cast of characters and dwell longer on the historical backdrop.

We do not know the motivations of the real-life “Powyss”. Nathan’s is a recluse who prefers the company of his books and music at his residence, Moreham Hall, to the idle entertaining which seems to be expected of him. With no family, a frosty relationship with his servants and just one more-or-less like-minded friend, his only dream is of being recognized in scientific circles. This is what he sets out to do with his unique experiment. Shockingly, he does not seem to take into account the fact that, his subject being a human being, this would raise ethical issues. Powyss’ dogged determination is not tempered with enough humanity to make him realize that the consequences of his actions could be tragic. This seems to dawn on him only when he gets to know better Mrs Warlow, whom he supports during the course of the experiment. Not unexpectedly, he becomes attracted to this woman, so different from himself in class, background, education and temperament – this, ironically, makes him question the correctness of the “experiment” whilst only complicating an already explosive situation.

Nathan has drawn a compelling story out of the bare bones of the Annual Register account. The three-part narrative arc of the novel is satisfying (although some of the scenes, especially the final one, feels contrived) and I particularly admired the different voices and points of view which are very well brought out. The contrasting ‘narrators’ obviously reflect the origin of The Warlow Experiment as two short stories, but the novel also includes the voices of other characters, including Mrs Warlow. The characterization is complex – in this respect, one of the figures I liked best was the housemaid Catherine, whom we see developing from a frankly rather unpleasant young woman to a steely, determined and big-hearted figure.

The novel also works wonderfully as historical fiction. The late 18th Century was a period of philosophical and scientific inquiry but was also – possibly for the same reasons – a period of social turbulence, with revolutionary ideas sweeping across Europe. This backdrop serves to highlight the ‘social’ themes of the book.

Indeed, the experiment brings out the inherent injustices of a classist and patriarchal society. Powyss seems to expect that a ‘gentleman’ of his background would be interested in becoming a hermit for science. He does not stop to consider that the only person who might wish to give up his liberty for a ‘pension’ of fifty pounds would likely be someone more financially desperate. Despite Powyss’s attempts at being humane, the nature of the experiment itself turns Warlow into a dehumanised subject, and only serves to accentuate the divide between classes.

Moreover, it is suggested that, at all levels of society, it is women who suffer most: the educated and enlightened Powyss, his ‘progressive’ friend Fox, the firebrand Abraham Price with his dreams of equality – all become selfish and rapacious where women are concerned. At the same time, women are portrayed as the instigators of hope and redemption. In this respect, this is a worthy addition to a number of recent historical novels with a feminist streak

Visit https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/2019/07/warlow-experiment-alix-nathan.html for a complete review including music by composers mentioned in the novel. ( )

An intriguing premise that just becomes dismal. A rich man offers money if someone can spend seven years with no human contact, underground. Only one man answers, and after awhile you realize that man is not a diamond in the rough, he's just rough. Then a parallel story of degradation emerges, with both the rich man and poor man becoming morally worse. Attempts at redemption are too little too late, no one really grows, and I never knew or liked any of the characters. Learned nothing about the human condition, although that seemed to be the promise of the book. ( )

Based on an actual event of 1793, where a wealthy amateur scientist paid a poor volunteer to come and dwellin solitary confinerment in his cellar for seven years to see what happened. When mentioned in the press, he was four years in.....the trail goes cold after that.
The author re-imagines the story and creates quite a compelling read. As the brutish labourere John Warlow takes up residence in the cellar.....meals supplied through a lift, books (but he's barely literate)....well-to-do scientist Herbery Powyss starts to bcome enamoured of Warlow's wife, as she calls to collect the family's "wages".
Meanwhile a revolutionary-minded servant decides to free the "prisoner".
A pretty gripping read. ( )

I was excited to read this, and while I think it was really well written, I wasn’t crazy about the plot. Instead of hearing about the various residents of the house, I’d have loved more focus on Marlow in the basement, as John Fowles did so wonderfully well when writing about the basement dweller in The Collector.

Instead, we jump years and miss out on hearing more about the day to day, or even hour to hour, maddening inertia that Marlow experienced.

Still, excited to read more by this author. ( )