Curious Incident author Mark Haddon wrestles with Shakespeare in his new novel The Porpoise

The Porpoise, the new novel by British writer Mark Haddon (right), is a fantastic melange of pirates, plague, court intrigue and women rising out of the water with vengeance in their teeth. PHOTOS: CHATTO & WINDUS, CHARLES MORIARTY
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SiNGAPORE - While writing his latest novel The Porpoise, British author Mark Haddon gave a character a heart attack.

It is described in great detail - the calcified lumps, the collapse of the heart's four chambers into "one wrecked vessel of twitching flesh in which the blood pools and squelches".

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