Cloud Atlas

A SPECIAL ANNIVERSARY EDITION CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF CLOUD ATLASWith an introduction by Gabrielle Zevin (author of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow) and a new afterword by David Mitchell'Nothing short of a miracle'THE TIMES'A novel of breathtaking ambition and scale, spanning continents, oceans and centuries'INDEPENDENT'A virtuoso performance'DAILY TELEGRAPH'One of the most shamelessly exciting books imaginable'SPECTATOR'Not just dazzling, amusing, or clever but heartbreaking and passionate, too. I've never read anything quite like it'MICHAEL CHABON'One of those how-the-holy-hell-did-he-do-it? modern classics that no doubt it - and should be - read by any student of contemporary literature'DAVE EGGERSSouls cross ages like clouds cross skies . . .A reluctant voyager crossing the Pacific Ocean in 1850.A disinherited composer conning his way into the home of a dying genius in interwar Belgium.A high-minded journalist in Governor Reagan's California.A vanity publisher fleeing his gangland creditors.The testament of a genetically modified 'dinery server' on death-row.And Zachry, a young Pacific Islander witnessing the nightfall of science and civilisation.The narrators of Cloud Atlas hear each other's echoes along the corridor of history - echoes that change destinies in ways great and small.In a globe-encircling narrative reaching from the nineteenth century to a post-apocalyptic future, Cloud Atlas erases the boundaries of time, genre and language to offer an enthralling vision of humanity's will to power, and where it will lead us.*Please note that p. 40 is intentionally blank*Shortlisted for the Booker Prize, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Arthur C. Clarke Award, winner of Richard & Judy Best Read of the Year and a BBC Two Between the Covers Book Club pickPRAISE FOR DAVID MITCHELL'A thrilling and gifted writer'FINANCIAL TIMES'Dizzyingly, dazzlingly good'DAILY MAIL'Mitchell is, clearly, a genius'NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW'An author of extraordinary ambition and skill'INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY'A superb storyteller'THE NEW YORKER