Characterised by sardonic and often acerbic narrators, Charlotte Randall’s novels balance a zealous attention to language and vocabulary with mordant observations of the human condition. Her novels aim their critiques at a broad range of subjects, but often return to satirise dubious medical science, pseudo-religious superstitions, and spurious cultural trends. By blending contemporary and historical settings (often within a single narrative) Randall’s novels bring the follies of the past to bear on the present.
Born in Dunedin, New Zealand, Randall moved to Christchurch as a young adult to study psychology at the University of Canterbury. Although later abandoning psychological research to write full-time, her continued interest in the discipline is evident in her novels’ preoccupations with the peculiarities of human thinking and wry descriptions of the history of clinical treatment in Western society. Her...
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Citation: Harris, Matthew. "Charlotte Randall". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 12 September 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12227, accessed 06 December 2025.]
