Shortlisted for the James Tait Black Memorial and Commonwealth Writers' PrizesSpectacularly accomplished and thrillingly suspenseful . . . it brims with rich, involving and affecting humanity
An
achingly romantic story of forbidden love . . . Mitchell's
incredible prose is on stunning display . . . [it] confirms Mitchell as one of the more fascinating and fearless writers alive
That rare thing - a novel which actually deserves the accolade "
tour de force"
Genres merge and interact like the shimmering colours of a kaleidoscope . . . one story contains multiplicities, woven together with golden thread . . . Dive in and lose yourself in
a world of incredible scope, originality and imaginative brillianceCompared with almost everything being written now, it is
vertiginously ambitious - and brilliant . . . He can write as thrillingly about large-scale events as he can about the tiny details of the private world . . . turned one way this novel is a thriller with a glittering seam of a love story running through it (or is it the other way round?); turned another, it is a sumptuous historical novel on the collision of cultures caught at a particular crossroads of history
StunningAs compelling as it is strange, the novel is testament to the originality of Mitchell's vision and his great craftiness as a storyteller
A heady potion of betrayal, love, superstition, power politics and murder . . . And all this in
the most extraordinary proseHowever densely charted and richly sketched, this
sumptuous imbroglio never drags . . . Mitchell flexes his prose virtuosity. More than before, those muscles do the heart's work
Moving, thoughtful and unexpectedly funny
Hugely enjoyable . . . It cracks along, holding us in suspense from the beginning
Masterpieces make their own rules, and this book is definitely one of them
David Mitchell is back with a bang . . .
superbAmbitious and fascinating . . . Comparisons to Tolstoy are inevitable, and right on the money
A pitch-perfect masterclass in the art, and magic, of narrative
A marvel - entirely original among contemporary British novels, revealing its author as, surely, the most impressive fictional mind of his generation
A formidable marvelExtraordinarily entertaining and well-realised
For a tour de force, it's surprisingly nimble, emotionally complex and
simply unforgettableAlmost every sentence shimmers with precise, opaque and
brilliantly realised writing . . . An historical novel on a deliberately grand scale, it never loses its quiet intimacy
The details are fascinating and the prose beautiful . . . simply
magnificentSharp, hilarious, exhilarating stuff. Utterly enjoyable
An affecting conclusion underscores Mr Mitchell's mastery here not only of
virtuosic literary fireworks, but also of the quieter arts of empathy and traditional storytelling
Dazzles with its density and intensity, its ambition and grandeur
Mitchell's masterpiece; and also, I am convinced,
a masterpiece of our timeThe novelist who's shown us fiction's future has written a
classic tale . . . an epic of sacrificial love, clashing civilizations and enemies who won't rest until whole family lines have been snuffed out
A
vastly entertaining historical novel, giving the reader a glimpse into a world we know so little of and charting a fascinating period of history
A
marvellously wrought novel, full of fully formed characters and the kind of detail that allows you to sink deep into its imaginary world. I was sorry when I finished
David Mitchell is the author of the novels Ghostwritten, number9dream, Cloud Atlas, Black Swan Green, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, The Bone Clocks, Slade House and Utopia Avenue. He has been shortlisted twice for the Booker Prize, won the World Fantasy Award, and the John Llewellyn Rhys, Geoffrey Faber Memorial and South Bank Show Literature Prizes, among others. In 2018, he won the Sunday Times Award for Literary Excellence, given in recognition of a writer's entire body of work. His screenwriting credits include the TV shows Pachinko and Sense8, and the movie Matrix: Resurrections.
In addition, David Mitchell together with KA Yoshida has translated from Japanese two autism memoirs by Naoki Higashida: The Reason I Jump and Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight.
He lives in Ireland.