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Oxygen
On sale
20th June 2002
Price: £9.99
‘ANDREW MILLER’S WRITING IS A SOURCE OF WONDER AND DELIGHT’ Hilary Mantel
‘ONE OF OUR MOST SKILFUL CHRONICLERS OF THE HUMAN HEART AND MIND’ Sunday Times
Shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Whitbread Novel Award
‘Beautiful’
The Times
‘Superbly realised’
Sunday Telegraph
‘Breathtaking’
Irish Times
The third novel from the critically acclaimed author of Pure – a deeply moving exploration of courage, love and liberation in the modern age
In the summer of 1997, four people reach a turning point: Alice Valentine, who lies gravely ill in her West Country home; her two sons, one still searching for a sense of direction, the other fighting to keep his acting career and marriage afloat; and László Lázár, who leads a comfortable life in Paris yet is plagued by his memories of the 1956 Hungarian uprising.
For each, the time has come to assess what matters in life, and all will be forced to take part in an act of liberation – though not necessarily the one foreseen.
PRAISE FOR ANDREW MILLER
‘Unique, visionary, a master at unmasking humanity’
Sarah Hall
‘A writer of very rare and outstanding gifts’
Independent on Sunday
‘A highly intelligent writer, both exciting and contemplative’
The Times
‘A wonderful storyteller’
Spectator
‘ONE OF OUR MOST SKILFUL CHRONICLERS OF THE HUMAN HEART AND MIND’ Sunday Times
Shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Whitbread Novel Award
‘Beautiful’
The Times
‘Superbly realised’
Sunday Telegraph
‘Breathtaking’
Irish Times
The third novel from the critically acclaimed author of Pure – a deeply moving exploration of courage, love and liberation in the modern age
In the summer of 1997, four people reach a turning point: Alice Valentine, who lies gravely ill in her West Country home; her two sons, one still searching for a sense of direction, the other fighting to keep his acting career and marriage afloat; and László Lázár, who leads a comfortable life in Paris yet is plagued by his memories of the 1956 Hungarian uprising.
For each, the time has come to assess what matters in life, and all will be forced to take part in an act of liberation – though not necessarily the one foreseen.
PRAISE FOR ANDREW MILLER
‘Unique, visionary, a master at unmasking humanity’
Sarah Hall
‘A writer of very rare and outstanding gifts’
Independent on Sunday
‘A highly intelligent writer, both exciting and contemplative’
The Times
‘A wonderful storyteller’
Spectator
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Reviews
Miller's use of imagery is always unexpected, sometimes astonishing . . . impossible to put down
His prose is perfectly balanced, both beautiful and exact
Thoughtful, complex and satisfying . . . a deeply pleasurable read
A beautifully written novel, which extols the power of love . . . it grabs your attention to the last page
A writer of astonishing gifts who peels his characters back to the quick with a language that never misses a note . . . his complex characters are unravelled with a depth and elegance that is breathtaking
Miller is a writer of such astonishing prose that wherever he takes his characters, they speak a rare emotional truth
Highly accomplished . . . breathe in and enjoy
He has a surgical disdain for sentimentality and cliche, and his startling sentences, both beautiful and distressing, can lodge themselves in your brain
At times, reading this disparate, exact novel, you have the suspicion that Andrew Miller's writing might be capable of anything. It is particularly adept, however, at inhabiting neutered, almost insulated lives. In previous books he has quietly conjured other, odd worlds and made them seem like his own . . . Here the places his imagination visits are no less strange and no less directly realised, and the preoccupation with emotional vacuums persists
Powerful and moving
Complex and elegantly constructed . . . an admirably restrained piece of writing, tender, funny, witty, profound
Poignant, probing, brainy fiction, animated by an intense and complex narrative drive, grounded in a vivid sense of place and character, and enlivened by a sly, stoical wit that keeps cropping up where you least expect it
Elegantly written . . . an intelligent and stylish read
A writer of verve and talent . . . Miller's prose is fluent, lucid and at times radiant
Lovely, striking, strange, evocative . . . exquisite
Exquisitely detailed . . . a real talent
An exhilarating journey through personal histories and a knowing glimpse at the ways we hold ourselves responsible for saving the people we love
Four intersecting lives - which take the reader to Los Angeles, Paris, Budapest, and a deathbed in rural England - are portrayed with uncommon wisdom