Promotional Information

An engrossing, satirical and very funny new novel on climate change

About the Author

Ian McEwan is the critically acclaimed author of seventeen books. His first published work, a collection of short stories, First Love, Last Rites, won the Somerset Maugham Award. His novels include The Child in Time, which won the 1987 Whitbread Novel of the Year Award; The Cement Garden; Enduring Love; Amsterdam, which won the 1998 Booker Prize; Atonement; Saturday; On Chesil Beach; Solar; Sweet Tooth; The Children Act; and Nutshell, which was a Number One bestseller. Atonement and Enduring Love have both been turned into award-winning films, The Children Act and On Chesil Beach are in production and set for release this year, and filming is currently underway for a BBC TV adaptation of The Child in Time.

Reviews

Savagely funny... Enormously entertaining
*Sunday Times*

A satirical masterpiece...it will come to be regarded as a classic
*Daily Telegraph*

A stunningly accomplished work, possibly his best yet
*Financial Times*

McEwan has succeeded in producing a novel that is both profoundly serious and hilariously funny
*Mail on Sunday*

Vivacious and sprawling, a beautifully and compellingly written novel
*The Times*

In the afterglow of winning a Nobel Prize, Michael Beard lives a dismal life marked by multiple marriages, figurehead positions, and his own gluttony. However, after his most recent wife leaves him, Beard attempts to start living life to the fullest. He stumbles into this new life with a great deal of fanfare and catastrophe: covering up murder, nearly losing his penis to frostbite, and devising a plan to harness the power of the sun to save the planet. Roger Allam's English accent and gravelly voice balances a range of characters and emotions, especially Beard's arrogance and self-righteousness. More importantly, Allam's straightforward delivery of Beard's zany adventures enhances the humorous quality of McEwan's text. A Doubleday hardcover (Reviews, Feb. 1). (May) Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.

Savagely funny... Enormously entertaining * Sunday Times *
A satirical masterpiece...it will come to be regarded as a classic * Daily Telegraph *
A stunningly accomplished work, possibly his best yet * Financial Times *
McEwan has succeeded in producing a novel that is both profoundly serious and hilariously funny * Mail on Sunday *
Vivacious and sprawling, a beautifully and compellingly written novel * The Times *