Description
Winner of the Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize
'Astonishingly accomplished'
THE TIMES
'Remarkable'
OBSERVER
'Gripping'
NEW YORK TIMES
'Fabulously atmospheric'
GUARDIAN
'Engrossing'
DAILY MAIL
A magnificent achievement and an engrossing experience, David Mitchell's first novel announced the arrival of one of the most exciting writers of the twenty-first century.
An apocalyptic cult member carries out a gas attack on a rush-hour metro, but what links him to a jazz buff in downtown Tokyo? Or to a Mongolian gangster, a woman on a holy mountain who talks to a tree, and a late night New York DJ?
Set at the fugitive edges of Asia and Europe, Ghostwritten weaves together a host of characters, their interconnected destinies determined by the inescapable forces of cause and effect.
PRAISE FOR DAVID MITCHELL
'A thrilling and gifted writer'
FINANCIAL TIMES
'Dizzyingly, dazzlingly good'
DAILY MAIL
'Mitchell is, clearly, a genius'
NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
'An author of extraordinary ambition and skill'
INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY
'A superb storyteller'
THE NEW YORKER
Winner of the Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize
About the Author
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.
Reviews
Demands to be read and re-read . . . an astonishing debut * Independent *
One of the best first novels I've read in a long time . . . I couldn't put it down -- A. S. Byatt * Mail on Sunday *
A remarkable novel by a young writer of remarkable talent * Observer *
The best first novel I have read in ages . . . it beguiles, informs, shocks and captivates -- William Boyd * Daily Telegraph *
Mitchell plays one extraordinary riff after another . . . If you want to know what the distinctive literature of the 21st century will look like, begin here -- Boyd Tonkin * Independent *
Fabulously atmospheric and wryly perceptive . . . a huge new talent * Guardian *
A remarkable first novel * Time Out *
Engaging and engrossing * Daily Mail *
The most breathtaking debut I've ever read -- Sue Perkins * Daily Express *
Gripping and innovative * New York Times *
An extraordinarily assured novel of global reach and millennial ambition * Esquire *
This first novel displays a cool and intelligent virtuosity and an amazingly copious imagination * Daily Telegraph *
A brilliantly constructed novel which you must read for yourself . . . truly a masterpiece -- Books of the Year * Vector *
Tautly plotted and with the page-turning qualities of a thriller, Ghostwritten is an intoxicating read and is in danger of giving the post-modern novel a good name * Irish Times *
Astonishingly accomplished * The Times *
Full of sly and sometimes beautiful surprises . . . worth a dozen of the morally anorexic first novels that regularly come down the pipe. Ghostwritten may conclude with the end of the world, but I, for one, am hoping for more -- Daniel Mendelsohn * New York Magazine *
A dazzling piece of work * Washington Post *
Elegantly composed, gracefully plotted and full of humour . . . It recalls Tolstoy and Dostoevsky in its emotional scope and its ambitions. Like the great Russians, Mitchell makes us feel that more is at stake than individual lives, although it's by individual lives that pain and loss are measured * Los Angeles Times *
Mitchell deftly sketches each character to such a compelling extent that you become totally immersed * Entertainment Weekly *
Awards
Winner of Mail on Sunday / John Llewellyn Rhys Prize 2000. Short-listed for Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize 2000 and Guardian First Book Award 1999.
Book Information
ISBN 9780340739754
Author David Mitchell
Format Paperback
Page Count 448
Imprint Sceptre
Publisher Hodder & Stoughton
Weight(grams) 305g
Dimensions(mm) 196mm * 130mm * 32mm