Pharmakon by Dirk Wittenborn

"I was born because a man came to kill my father." So begins Dirk Wittenborn's lively novel about the psychopharmaceutical revolution in 1950s America, and its fallout. Dr William Friedrich is a professor of psychology at Yale. He stumbles upon a hallucinogen that has antidepressant properties, and launches a trial on human volunteers. After a promising start the experiment goes awry, with disastrous consequences for Friedrich and his family. Wittenborn is an engaging and likable writer with a great eye for detail; campus life is vividly evoked with all its quirks. The pace drops a little in the second half, along with some of the novel's warmth and humour, but the flaw is not too serious and the book survives as a memorable and absorbing read.