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If buttons, balloons or premature burial terrify you, rest assured you’re not alone

1 October 2022

9:00 AM

1 October 2022

9:00 AM

The Book of Phobias and Manias: A History of the World in 99 Obsessions Kate Summerscale

Profile Books, pp.239, 16.99

Every summer, during our holiday in Orkney, there is a moment of panic. We’re standing on a dizzying cliff – looking across a sleeve of sea at the Old Man of Hoy, maybe – and I’m consumed with a longing to fling myself over. It’s not suicidal. I just yearn to feel the wild rush of air against my cheeks: I want to fly.

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