This book has many elements that I love. I love history and fairy stories and science. The story is told in two alternating parts. One is about the Irish giant O'Brien, which is largely fictional because the actual giant had a pituitary tumor and was mentally disabled. The other story is that of John Hunter, scientist, doctor, and anatomist. Somehow the tone of the story is cold and not engaging in general, especially when she is telling the giant's side of the story. There are some lovely fairy tales, but not enough. The story comes alive when she talks about John Hunter, maybe because she is describing him accurately and he is a fascinating figure. I think I would have liked the book better had there been much less giant and much more Hunter. I also feel that she didn't do much with her theme of the lyrical poetry and wordsmithery of the Irish versus the cold dispassionate science of England. But she did capture the misery of the Irish when confronted with the cold blooded brutality of their treatment by the English.