Lead in Literature

The French Lieutenant’s Woman

by John Fowles

First published in Great Britain 1969 by Jonathon Cape Ltd

"And then the colour of those walls! They cried out for some light shade, for white. Instead they were a bilious leaden green - one that was, unknown to the occupants (and to be fair, to the tyrant upstairs), rich in arsenic."

Famous Last Words

by Conrad

When St Boniface was martyred in 755 AD, `As hot lead was poured into his mouth he said "I thank Thee Lord Jesus, Son of the Living God".'

The Horse Whisperer

by Nicholas Evans

Originally published in Great Britain by Bantam Press 1995

"Some of those guys - not Rarey, he was a real horseman - but some of the others, they did things that looked like magic but were just downright cruel. You know, things like pouring lead shot in a horse’s ear, so the sound of it would paralyze him with fear and people would say wow, look, he’s tamed that crazy horse! What they didn’t know was that he’d probably killed it too."