24 Billies

In 1977, a series of rapes in Ohio, USA, led to the arrest of William Stanley Milligan (also known as Billy Milligan), yet he had no memory of the crimes. In fact, 24 personalities existed within him; they differed in temperament, IQ, age, nationality, gender, and even language: Reagan, the 22-year-old protector; David, the 8-year-old bearer of pain; Adalana, a lesbian; Kevin, a con man; Rie, a clown; Mark, a workaholic… Whenever Billy closed his eyes, these personalities took turns stepping into the "spotlight" to control the body, each unaware of what the others had done. The book interweaves two threads: one is the fierce controversy during the trial over "whether he was a cunning fraud or an unfortunate victim"—Billy became the first suspect in American history to be acquitted of a serious crime because of multiple personality disorder, and the patient examined in full under the joint witness of four psychiatrists and one psychologist; the other is the trajectory of Billy's growth from childhood: his biological father's suicide and his stepfather's long-term beatings and sexual abuse split him into many personalities to share the agony. The author, Daniel Keyes, drawing on extensive interviews, medical records, and court materials, does his utmost to reconstruct Billy's inner world and to portray the struggle beneath broken memory, lost time, and shattered relationships. This edition is the 2018 CITIC new edition (10th anniversary edition), with a "Billy Milligan Chronology" appended, supplementing the later clues of the protagonist's life.