Description

‘MESMERIC, TERRIFYING AND WONDERFUL’ M. R. Carey, author of The Girl With All the Gifts

‘I was cursed in Natal, in 1884. Cursed by truth and by blood. The shadow took to me, and we have been together since.’

From the bestselling and award-winning author of The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August and 84K comes a powerful new novel about a young man haunted by a ghost from his past, and by the dark crimes committed in the name of the British empire.

‘North’s talent shines out’ Sunday Times

‘An irresistible haunting thrill’ Joe Hill author of Horns and Locke and Key

‘Remarkable . . . One of the most moving, horrifying and gut-wrenching novels of the year’ NPR

‘A suspenseful tale of the truths that lie hidden in the human heart’ Kirkus

‘North goes from strength to strength’ Guardian

‘North’s most ambitious novel to date’ Locus

‘A master of ingenious plotting and feats of imagination’ Alex Marwood, author of The Wicked Girls

Novels by Claire North:

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August
Touch
The Sudden Appearance of Hope
The End of the Day
84K
The Gameshouse
The Pursuit of William Abbey
Notes from the Burning Age
Ithaca

Publisher Review

An extraordinary novel that stands with the best of dystopian fiction, with echoes of The Handmaid's Tale -- Cory Doctorow on 84K Another captivating novel from one of the most intriguing and genre-bending novelists * BOOKLIST on 84K * North is an original and even dazzling writer, and fans of her work will enjoy this grim tale of capitalism taken to a terrifying extreme * KIRKUS on 84K * The truly scary thing about 84K is how convincing this dark, brutal class-divided Britain is * SFX (4 1/2 stars) * North demonstrates skill in creating a terrifying setting that feels rooted to the present day . . . Every aspect of life in Theo's Britain is imbued with a menace that feels both recognizable and urgent, and the decisions the characters make as a result feel uncomfortably real. * RT BOOK REVIEWS on 84K * Claire North's writing is terrific, smart and entertaining -- Patrick Ness Claire North is a true original, a master of ingenious plotting and feats of imagination -- Alex Marwood, author of THE WICKED GIRLS North's talent shines out -- SUNDAY TIMES In rich, compelling prose, North weaves together the threads of imperial control, ideological conviction, love and the thrill of power . . . A lyrical and sometimes surreal approach to espionage and its thrills * SHELF AWARENESS * A suspenseful tale of the truths that lie hidden in the human heart . . . This is a world-spanning cat-and-mouse chase that tackles big questions about the nature of truth and whether we can ever really know one another or ourselves. True love, life, and death, what's worth dying - or killing - for: It's all here in this gripping, bloody, and haunting novel * KIRKUS * Remarkable . . . one of the most moving, horrifying and gut-wrenching novels of the year * NPR * Claire North's most ambitious novel to date * LOCUS * North's latest once again displays her mastery of lyrical prose . . . The author presents a fascinating testament to humanity's fallibility and tendency towards denial, merged with the potency of truth and the power of love * BOOKLIST * An irresistible, haunting thrill * Joe Hill, author of HORNS and LOCKE AND KEY * Mesmeric, terrifying and wonderful. North is practically her own genre at this point. -- M. R. Carey, author of THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS