by PhilipHensher (Author)
The most ambitious and daring novel novel yet from Booker Prize-shortlisted Philip Hensher.
`A novel that's almost fizzy to the touch ... A performance of extraordinary flair and majesty from a writer who seems capable of anything' Guardian
`The Emperor Waltz' is a single novel with three narrative strands: fourth-century Rome, 1920s Germany, and 1980s London. In each place, a small coterie is closely connected and separated from the larger world. In each story, the larger world regards the small coterie and its passionately-held beliefs and secrets with suspicion and hostility.
It is the story of eccentricity, its struggle, its triumph, its influence - but also its defeat.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 624
Publisher: Fourth Estate
Published: 07 May 2015
ISBN 10: 0007459599
ISBN 13: 9780007459599
`A novel that is always a joy to read ... Read it and allow yourself to become a better person' Independent
`Important ... Glorious ... He might have the iconoclastic temperament of a Kandinsky, but he is an old master when he glimpses the cat asleep under the table or the curve of a woman's neck' The Times
`A glittering performance ... The Emperor Waltz has the depth and pleasurable density of a 19th-century fiction; I loved it' Ian Thomson, Evening Standard
`Splendidly thought out and extraordinarily readable' A S Byatt, Guardian
'A generous, courageous firework of a novel - a Roman candle, alive and fizzing in the hand' New Statesman
`A book as joyful as its musical source ... The Emperor Waltz is a beautiful book, both profound and funny. It is a powerful invocation to live a life of joy, surrounded by true friends' Telegraph
Philip Hensher is a columnist for the Independent, arts critic for the Spectator and a Granta Best of Young British novelist. He has written eight novels, including `The Mulberry Empire' and the Booker-shortlisted `The Northern Clemency', and one collection of short stories. He lives in South London.