A God in Ruins (Paperback)
  • A God in Ruins (Paperback)
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A God in Ruins (Paperback)

(author)
£9.99
Paperback 576 Pages
Published: 31/12/2015
  • 10+ in stock

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Winner of the 2015 Costa Award.

A God in Ruins relates the life of Teddy Todd - would-be poet, heroic World War II bomber pilot, husband, father, and grandfather - as he navigates the perils and progress of the 20th century. For all Teddy endures in battle, his greatest challenge will be to face living in a future he never expected to have.

This gripping, often deliriously funny yet emotionally devastating book looks at war - that great fall of Man from grace - and the effect it has, not only on those who live through it, but on the lives of the subsequent generations. It is also about the infinite magic of fiction.

Those who loved the bestselling Life After Life will recognise Teddy as Ursula Todd's adored younger brother - but for those who have not read it, A God in Ruins stands fully on its own. Few will dispute that it proves once again that Kate Atkinson is one of the most exceptional novelists of our age.

Publisher: Transworld Publishers Ltd
ISBN: 9780552776646
Number of pages: 576
Weight: 388 g
Dimensions: 198 x 127 x 34 mm


MEDIA REVIEWS

'Triumphant...such a dazzling read...Atkinson gives Teddy's wartime experiences the full treatment in a series of thrilling set pieces. Even more impressive,though, is her ability to invest the more everday events with a similar grandeur...almost as innovative as Atkinson's technique in Life After Life - a possibly more authentic as an expression of how it feels to be alive...it ends on one of the most devastating twists in recent fiction...it adds a further level of overwhelming poignancy to an already extraordinarily affecting book.' - James Walton Daily Telegraph

'This is a novel about war and the shadow it casts even over generations who have never known it, but it is also a novel about fiction...this is a novel that cares deeply about its characters and about the purpose of fiction in making sense of our collective past. A God in Ruins, together with its predecessor, is Atkinson's finest work, and confirmation that her genre-defying writing continues to surpise and dazzle.' - Stephanie Merritt, The Observer

'With A God in Ruins she, once again, proves herself to be a writer of considerable talent. Her command of structure is extraordinary...She writes with terrific compassion for her characters...also shows off a brilliantly brittle sense of humour that on several occasions made me laugh out loud...to my mind, A God in Ruins stands as an equally magnificent achievement.' - Matt Cain, Independent on Sunday

'Horribly funny...every page has some vividly original phrase...But the tour de force is her treatment of Teddy's experience as a bomber pilot, recreated as memorably as the Blitz scenes in Life After Life... nothing can quite account for the imaginative leaps she has made...nailbiting...a really affecting memorial to the huge numbers of bomber crew who died.' - Evening Standard

'Better than most fiction you'll read this year...Atkinson's prose is as bright as gunfire in the Second World War sections...I can't think of any writer to match her ability to grasp a period in the past. No, not even you, Booker-winning Hilary Mantel.' - The Times

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“The book you will read again and again”

" Life After Life" is my favourite book of all time. It's character Ursula Todd showed us what would happen if you were able to change events in history to protect your family.

In " A God in Ruins... More

Hardback edition
Helpful? Upvote 180
Emma Smith at Bedford

“Beautiful and outstanding”

I just don't think I can do justice to how brilliant and how moving this book is. It is a truly special novel that I have fallen completely in love with!

In 'Life After Life' we met Ursula Todd, a... More

Hardback edition
Helpful? Upvote 128

“A family saga with a difference”



This is a story of bomber command in World War 2. It’s Teddy’s war but not just that it’s a story of his family almost to present times. This is not told in a straightforward chronological way which I did find... More

Hardback edition
Helpful? Upvote 81

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