The Narrative of John Smith

by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

First published 2011

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3.4(331)

Written in 1883 but not published until 2011, The Narrative of John Smith centres on John Smith, a middle-aged bachelor confined to his room by an attack of gout. Visitors, books and events outside his window prompt a succession of conversations and reflections while his enforced inactivity turns the room into a place from which he considers the wider world.
The novel is less a conventional adventure than a character study built around argument and observation. Smith ranges across medicine, science, religion, literature, war, education and social questions, revealing the interests and opinions of the young Conan Doyle before the creation of Sherlock Holmes.