Title: The Hypnotist
Author: Laurence Anholt
Publisher: Corgi Children’s

Teacher review

Set in 1963 in America’s Deep South, The Hypnotist is a novel about Jack, an Irish professor of neurology, and 13-year-old Pip, an orphan. It would be nice to think that a novel about racism in 1960s America was something a modern-day audience couldn’t relate to. Sadly, the themes in Laurence Anholt’s brilliant debut YA novel still resonate within contemporary society. I suspect that’s the point. It’s one well made.

At the beginning of the story, Pip has just been hired by Mr Zachery to work as a farmhand on Dead River Farm. Mr. Zachery lives with his bedridden wife Lilybelle, and Erwin, his seven-foot-tall son. Pip reads to and cares for Lilybelle. Erwin does not care for Pip. Pip is black. Erwin is a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

Told from both Jack and Pip’s perspectives, the story is tense and moving. With real historical moments used as the backdrop, the novel deals skillfully with the issue of race and the power of friendship. It also contains a simile so good it made me want to reach for my DVD of Blackadder Goes Forth: “Pip was as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.” Tremendous.

I’ve read a lot of YA novels recently (*insert wave to Joe Nutt*) and this is one of my favourites. I think copies of it should stand proudly on the shelves of every history classroom in the country.

David Gower is a teacher of media studies at King Edward VI School in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. He tweets as @david_gower83

Pupil reviews

‘Good first attempt’

The Hypnotist is a superbly written novel. Managing to give each viewpoint character a distinctive voice is difficult, and can come across as gimmicky, yet ‘gimmicky’ is not a word I would use to describe Anholt’s writing.

From the conversational style of the chapters that focus on Jack Morrow, an Irish man with the unique gift of controlling other people’s minds, to the more traditional third-person chapters that focus on Pip - an almost-14-year-old orphan who just so happens to be black in 1960s America, to the poems that make up the chapters focusing on Hannah, a mute native American girl.

Set in 1963, the novel guides readers though the major events of the year seamlessly. It even has a time line at the back to further consolidate the facts. That said, it never felt like the story had to take a backseat to the history.

I believe that this novel managed to execute some quite dark themes, such as racism, in a very mature manner, and I am looking forward to seeing what more Laurence Anholt has to offer in terms of YA, as this was a very good first attempt at the genre.

Niamh Fenn, Year 11

‘Upsettingly familiar’

Right from the start, Laurence Anholt’s debut into young adult writing, The Hypnotist, captured me. From the first few pages - his written version of the Deep South accents, the atmosphere set by his writing, and the introduction to our main characters - I was transported to the deep, gritty, Southern states of America and hooked.

The story is told in a dual narrative, firstly from the point of view of Pip, a young orphan with a love for reading, and secondly from the point of view of Jack, an Irish professor who becomes a close friend to Pip. There are also a few songs by selectively mute Hannah.

The time period is one I am very interested in, and Anholt successfully captures the atmosphere of a country sweltering in prejudice and oppression. Through the different points of view, we are shown how different groups of people perceived and were affected by the racism and radicalism. It’s difficult not to make comparisons between the events of the novel and the events we so often see in the news today. So, while it still feels very much like it’s set in another time period, the events are upsettingly familiar and topical.

One thing that I dislike about young-adult literature is that often it can feel like it is targeted at a younger audience than those who generally read it. As this book is largely told from a 13-year-old’s perspective, I was worried about this happening, particularly because the author has only written for children before now. But there wasn’t a point where I felt patronised, or where the character’s opinions or reactions were too juvenile to agree or identify with. This made the novel very enjoyable. And, with the mix of younger and older characters, we saw a lot of different perspectives.

I think that the topics in the novel were handled very well. The novel was very realistic and factual, and it effectively showed the brutality of the subject without discussing anything too graphic for the targeted age range.

Overall, Anholt’s debut into young-adult literature was very successful. A lot of the characters were easy to care for, and I became very attached to Pip and Hannah, as well as Jack and even Zachery and Lilybelle. I found Jack’s discussions about hypnotism hard to get into and follow, but this was more than made up for in the storytelling of Hannah’s songs.

I think that The Hypnotist is an important read in the young-adult genre, where so many books are set in modern, wealthy America, are about typical teen dramas or are set in dystopian worlds. It’s very refreshing to read a historical young-adult novel, and I think Anholt executed it beautifully.

Georgia Holland, Year 11

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