For fans of THE UNLIKELY PILGRIMAGE OF HAROLD FRY, THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU, Mark Watson and Mark Haddon, here is a cleverly written mystery about fate, circumstance, destiny and coincidence from COSTA AWARD-shortlisted author, John Ironmonger. This quirky read is hard to put down and spans philosophy, conflict, relationships and romance.

Thomas Post is an expert on coincidences. He's an authority. People come to see him, to ask him if he can explain strange events that have befallen them, and he can always explain these things away. We poor humans, he would say, have a tendency to make patterns out of random shapes, or to construct meaning from the random behaviour of the universe.

But one day Thomas gets a visit from Azalea Lewis, and his world will never be the same again. For Azalea's coincidences seem to go off the scale. The lives of Thomas and Azalea become entwined, their destinies entangled. And now, with Azalea apparently dead in a foreign land, Thomas must reassemble the pieces of her life in search for the patterns that drove it. And that means he must try to unravel the coincidences that so afflicted her.

For fans of THE UNLIKELY PILGRIMAGE OF HAROLD FRY, THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU, Mark Watson and Mark Haddon, here is a cleverly written mystery about fate, circumstance, destiny and coincidence from COSTA AWARD-shortlisted author, John Ironmonger. This quirky read is hard to put down and spans philosophy, conflict, relationships and romance.

About the Author
John Ironmonger was born and grew up in East Africa. He has a doctorate in zoology, and was once an expert on freshwater leeches. He is the author of The Good Zoo Guide and the novels The Notable Brain of Maximilian Ponder (shortlisted for the 2012 Costa First Novel Prize and the Guardian's Not the Booker Prize), The Coincidence Authority and The Whale at the End of the World (an international bestseller). He has also been part of a world record team for speed reading Shakespeare, has driven across the Sahara in a GBP100 banger, and once met Jared Diamond in a forest in the middle of Sumatra.

Reviews
This is an absorbing and unusual novel suffused with intelligence, charm and humanity and I highly recommend it. * THE BOOKSELLER *
This story twists like a pretzel, the author teases and tantalises the reader, and it's delightfully unexpected. * THE TIMES *
A love story that is also a story of ideas...The love story between Thomas and Azalea is touching and gently written. * THE METRO *



Book Information
ISBN 9781780220840
Author John Ironmonger
Format Paperback
Page Count 320
Imprint Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Publisher Orion Publishing Co
Weight(grams) 260g
Dimensions(mm) 196mm * 128mm * 22mm