Synopsis

An apocalyptic cult member carries out a gas-attack on a rush-hour metro, but what connects him to a jazz-buff in Tokyo? A Mongolian gangster, a redundant English spy in Petersburg with a knack for forging masterpieces, a despondent "zookeeper", a nuclear scientist, a ghostwriter, a ghost, and a late night New York DJ whose hard-boiled scepticism has been his undoing all also have stories to tell. Add to this saxophones and causality, Buddha, cherry blossoms, island cities, a mind unhooked from memory, the Trans Siberian express, hidden narratives of the new world's order, circles and roulette in London, Baggins the Tarantula and a quantum computer born one century ahead of its time. All elements are interconnected and each character must play their part as they are caught up in the inescapable forces of cause and effect.

Reviews

'Demands to be read and re-read...an astonishing debut.' - Lawrence Norfolk, Independent

'One of the best first novels I've read in a long time...I coudn't put it down' - A.S. Byatt, Mail on Sunday

'A firework display...a remarkable novel by a young writer of remarkable talent' Adam Lively, Observer

'A stunning mix of cyber-thriller and mysticism' - Boyd Tonkin, Independent

About the Author

David Mitchell’s first novel, Ghostwritten, was published in 1999, when it won the Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award. His second, number9dream, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize as well as the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and in 2003 he was chosen as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists. Cloud Atlas, his third novel, won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, the South Bank Show Literature Prize, and the Best Literary Fiction and Richard & Judy Best Read of the Year categories in the British Book Awards, as well as being shortlisted for a further six awards including the Man Booker Prize and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. It was followed by Black Swan Green, which was shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award and longlisted for the Man Booker, and The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, which was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2010. Born in 1969, David Mitchell grew up in Worcestershire. After graduating from Kent University, he spent several years teaching in Japan, and now lives in Ireland with his wife and two children. More books by this author Author 'Like for Like' recommendation