The Somnambulist
By (Author) Jonathan Barnes
Orion Publishing Co
Gollancz
1st March 2008
United Kingdom
Paperback
288
Width 155mm, Height 198mm, Spine 20mm
240g
'Be warned. This book has no literary merit whatsoever. It is a lurid piece of nonsense, convoluted, implausible, peopled by unconvincing characters, written in drearily pedestrian prose, frequently ridiculous and wilfully bizarre. Needless to say, I doubt you'll believe a word of it.'
So starts the extraordinary tale of Edward Moon, detective, his silent sidekick the Somnambulist and a devilish plot to recreate the apocalyptic prophecies of William Blake and bring the British Empire crashing down.With a gallery of vividly grotesque characters, a richly evoked setting and a playful style this is an amazingly readable literary fantasy and a brilliant debut.Jonathan Barnes is a debut novelist. He graduated from Oxford five years ago with a first in English Literature. He has had various jobs in banking but is also a reviewer for numerous literary magazines and papers.