Lynne Vallone

Lynne Vallone is the author of Big and Small: A Cultural History of Extraordinary Bodies.

In 1824, a Scottish merchant called Robert Hunter was sailing down the Mekong when he saw a ‘two-headed Hydra-like creature’ climbing into a dinghy. On closer inspection, Hunter discovered ‘not some amphibious reptile’ but two identical young boys connected at the chest by a thick band of flesh. He had been on the lookout for new ways to make money in Siam; that summer’s day, he found one in the body of the 13-year-old twins.

Imps and Ogres

Marina Warner, 6 June 2019

In​ 1956, Lorenza Mazzetti, then a student at the Slade, made a film called Together, with her fellow artists Michael Andrews and Eduardo Paolozzi playing the main parts. She shot it in the...

Read more reviews

Read anywhere with the London Review of Books app, available now from the App Store for Apple devices, Google Play for Android devices and Amazon for your Kindle Fire.

Sign up to our newsletter

For highlights from the latest issue, our archive and the blog, as well as news, events and exclusive promotions.

Newsletter Preferences