Published by Sceptre
Award-winning author David Mitchell returns at his mind-bending best with The Bone Clocks, his Booker Prize-nominated sixth novel.
The English writer’s latest offering charts the life of protagonist Holly Sykes, from teenage runaway in 1980s Essex, to an elderly woman eking out a frugal existence in a not-too-distant future where Europe has run out of oil.
Unbeknownst to Holly, a fleeting promise she makes to a stranger as an adolescent leads her to become a pawn in the battle between two groups of ‘pseudo-immortals’, one good, one resoundingly evil.
The Bone Clocks is a metaphysical thriller whose themes are as ambitious as its genres are varied. We see Mitchell dipping his toe for the first time into the realms of fantasy, which bubbles tantalisingly under the surface of the normal world throughout most of the novel.
Favourite topics such as reincarnation and the inevitability of a dystopian future are revisited anew, and dark moments and Faustian pacts are tempered by entertaining characters and outlandish scrapes.
Fans of the Cloud Atlas author will be familiar with the novella structure of The Bone Clocks, which consists of six discrete but interconnected sections, each covering a decade of Holly’s life.
Mitchell has also once again peppered the book with characters and connections from his past works as a sort of Easter egg hunt for dedicated readers to enjoy.
While the sheer scope of The Bone Clocks may not be to everyone’s taste, it is a page-turner that sees David Mitchell firmly establishing himself as the most genre-defying fiction writer of our time.