Set This House in Order by Matt Ruff – piecing together a shattered mind

This story of a man who suffers from multiple personality disorder is a masterful blend of horror and romance

Guardian Witness: which books do you love to share?Read more in our ‘A book to share’ series

I’m one of those people who believe that books aren’t for sharing at all. They’re for stumbling across, keeping closely guarded secrets - and our most precious books are all the more special because of that. I rarely read books that other people give me, and even more seldom cajole others into reading books I like. Which makes it all the odder that there is one particular book I’ve repeatedly bought for (a few select) other people.

Matt Ruff’s 2003 novel Set This House in Order isn’t on the surface anything different. It takes place in and around Seattle in the late 1990s and its hero, Andrew, suffers from multiple personality disorder (or, more accurately, is one of many personalities inhabiting an individual with that condition).

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