The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

For the stage adaptation of the book, see The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (play).

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
AuthorMark Haddon
LanguageEnglish and 36 others[1]
GenreMystery novel
PublisherJonathan Cape (UK)
Doubleday (US)
Anchor Canada (Canadia)
Publication date
1 May 2003
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint (hardback and paperback)
Pages274
ISBN0-09-945025-9
OCLC59267481

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a 2003 mystery novel by British writer Mark Haddon. Its title refers to an observation by the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes (created by Arthur Conan Doyle) in the 1892 short story "The Adventure of Silver Blaze". Haddon and The Curious Incident won the Whitbread Book Awards for Best Novel and Book of the Year,[2] the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book,[3] and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize.[4] Unusually, it was published simultaneously in separate editions for adults and children.[5]

The novel is narrated in the first-person perspective by Christopher John Francis Boone, a 15-year-old boy who is described as "a mathematician with some behavioural difficulties" living in Swindon, Wiltshire. Although Christopher's condition is not stated, the book's blurb refers to Asperger's syndrome. In July 2009, Haddon wrote on his blog that "The Curious Incident is not a book about Asperger's ... if anything it's a novel about difference, about being an outsider, about seeing the world in a surprising and revealing way. The book is not specifically about any specific disorder", and that he, Haddon, is not an expert on the autism spectrum or Asperger's syndrome.[6]

The book uses prime numbers to number the chapters, rather than the conventional successive numbers. Originally written in English, it has been translated into 36 additional languages.[1]

  1. ^ a b "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time". Worldcat. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference costabookawards was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference vic was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference prize2003 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Ezard, John (13 November 2003). "Curious incident of writer's literary hat trick: Whitbread list means Haddon could be three time winner". The Guardian. London: Guardian News and Media. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference mh-autism was invoked but never defined (see the help page).