The Bone Clocks

by David Mitchell

Metaphysical thriller, meditation on mortality and chronicle of our self-devouring times, this is the kaleidoscopic new novel from the author of Cloud Atlas.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS UK AUTHOR OF THE YEAR 2014
LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2014
LONGLISTED FOR THE FOLIO PRIZE 2015

One drowsy summer's day in 1984, teenage runaway Holly Sykes encounters a strange woman who offers a small kindness in exchange for 'asylum'. Decades will pass before Holly understands exactly what sort of asylum the woman was seeking . . .

The Bone Clocks follows the twists and turns of Holly's life from a scarred adolescence in Gravesend to old age on Ireland's Atlantic coast as Europe's oil supply dries up - a life not so far out of the ordinary, yet punctuated by flashes of precognition, visits from people who emerge from thin air and brief lapses in the laws of reality. For Holly Sykes - daughter, sister, mother, guardian - is also an unwitting player in a murderous feud played out in the shadows and margins of our world, and may prove to be its decisive weapon.

• ISBN10: 1400065674
• ISBN13: 9781400065677
• Publish Date: 2 September 2014 (first published 25 August 2014)
• Publish Status: Remaindered
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Random House
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 624
• Language: English

Reviews

[Rinn]

I just don't know what to think of this one, or if I really agree with my own rating. I liked the 'normal life' bits, but the whole Horology thing just didn't work for me. And there was no proper ending, half the voices were dull... I don't know if I enjoyed this or not!