Ghostwritten

Format:	Paperback 448 pages

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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 woman on a holy mountain talks to a tree - and the tree talks back - unaware of the effect the financial irregularities of a burnt-out lawyer will have on her life. Add to this - 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 of them have tales to tell, and all must play their part as they are caught up in the inescapable forces of cause and effect.

Book details

Published
20/04/2000

Publisher
Sceptre

ISBN
9780340739754

Publisher and industry reviews

Jacket review

'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 couldn't put it down' -- AS Byatt, Mail on Sunday 'A firework display ... 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 Books of the 'Fabulously atmospheric and wryly perceptive ... a huge new talent' -- Guardian Books of the Year 'The best modern novel I have read for some time' -- Rachel Cusk, Express on Sunday 'A remarkable first novel ... Eastern, ethereal, yet flecked with flashes of commando grit, this multi-faceted novel is full of surprises' -- Time Out

UK Kirkus review

More of an experience that a novel, Mitchell's book's huge cast play off one another to dazzling efect. Set in the shadowlands and margins of Asia and Europe, stories intermingle with a bewildering and awe-inspiring brilliance. Ghostwritten becomes a melting pot into which are tossed a Japanese jazz fan, island cities, a Mongolian mobster, Buddha, 'The White Album', Ulan Bator's Grand Central Station and much much more. All the elements in this engrossing novel combine to form a masterpeiece which draws the reader into a world where everyone and everything has its own story to tell. (Kirkus UK)

About the author

David Mitchell

David Mitchell's debut novel, GHOSTWRITTEN, was first published in 1999 and was awarded 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 and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. In 2003, David Mitchell was selected as one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists and his third novel, CLOUD ATLAS, was shortlisted for 6 awards including the Man Booker Prize and won the British Book Awards Best Literary Fiction and the South Bank Show Literature Prize. He lives in Ireland with his wife and daughter.