The Minds of Billy Milligan - Daniel Keyes - 9781409163909

Billy Milligan was a man tormented by twenty-four distinct personalities battling for supremacy – a battle that culminated when he awoke in jail, arrested for the kidnap and rape of three women. In a landmark trial, Billy was acquitted of his crimes by reason of insanity caused by multiple personality disorder – the first such court decision in history.

Among the twenty-four are: Philip, a petty criminal; Kevin, who dealt drugs; April, whose only ambition was to kill Billy’s stepfather; Adalana, the shy, affection-starved lesbian who ‘used’ Billy’s body in the rapes that led to his arrest; David, the eight-year-old ‘keeper of the pain’; and the Teacher, the sum of all Billy’s alter egos fused into one.

In The Minds of Billy Milligan, Daniel Keyes brings to light the most remarkable and harrowing case of multiple personality ever recorded.

Daniel Keyes (1927-2014) Born in Brooklyn in 1927, Daniel Keyes worked as a merchant seaman, editor and university lecturer. He published four other novels, including Flowers for Algernon, originally a short story, for which he won the Hugo Award, later expanded into the Nebula Award-winning novel and adapted as an Oscar-winning film (Charly, 1968). Daniel Keyes had a Master’s degree in English and American literature and was a Professor of English and Creative writing. He died in 2014.