Ghostwritten

David Mitchell

Editions

Review

On the front of this novel, the author’s first, there is a quote from Tibor Fischer saying “An astounding novel”. And it is true. It consists of 10 chapters, each telling a different story – a jazz buff in Tokyo, a woman on a holy mountain in China who talks to a tree, an English spy in Petersburg etc. – which are delicately, cleverly connected. The exuberance of Mitchell’s invention is utterly exhilarating, and he writes like an angel for every one of the 436 pages!  If there were no other novels published this year, 1999 would still be a good year for fiction. - review by Johnny de Falbe