Smoke: A Novel - Softcover

Vyleta, Dan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1101910402 ISBN 13: 9781101910405

Publisher: Anchor, 2017

Synopsis

Readers of The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and Arcadia by Iain Pears are sure to be mesmerized by Dan Vyleta’s thrilling blend of Dickensian historical fiction and fantasy, as three young friends scratch the surface of the grown-up world to discover startling wonders—and dangerous secrets.
 
In an alternate Victorian England those who are wicked are marked by the smoke that pours out of their bodies. The aristocracy are clean, proof of their virtue and right to rule, while the lower classes are drenched in sin and soot. 

Thomas Argyle is the only son of a wayward aristocrat. Charlie Cooper is his best friend. When Thomas finds himself under the boot heel of a sadistic headboy in the treacherous halls of their elite boarding school, he and Charlie begin to question the rules of their society. Then the boys meet Livia, the daughter of a wealthy and powerful family. She leads them to a secret laboratory where they learn that smoke may not be as it seems, and together they set out to uncover the truth about their world.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Imagine a world in which every wicked thought is visible to all . . . 

In an alternative Victorian England, a population is held in thrall to sin. From a brief flicker of envy to a deep murderous rage, sin is immediately visible as smoke rising from the skin. The worse the sin, the more noxious the haze. But the elite have learned to control their smoke, proof of their virtue and right to rule.

Thomas Argyle and Charlie Cooper are friends at a prestigious boarding school near Oxford. Charlie is naturally good, but Thomas’s father was accused of a terrible crime, and Thomas fears that the same evil lies coiled inside him. Then, on a trip to London—a forbidden city shrouded in darkness—they witness an event that leads them to question the very nature of virtue. But it is Livia, the daughter of a powerful aristocrat, who reveals that the rules of smoke can be broken. Together, they set out on a quest to uncover the truth about their world of smoke, soot and ash—and perhaps to change it . . .

Combining history, allegory and adventure, Smoke is a narrative tour de force and a tale of ferocious imaginative power, told by a master storyteller.

About the Author:

DAN VYLETA is the son of Czech refugees who emigrated to Germany in the late 1960s. He holds a Ph.D. in history from King's College, Cambridge. Vyleta is the author of three novels, Pavel & I, The Quiet Twin, which was shortlisted for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, and The Crooked Maid, which was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and won the J.I. Segal Award. An inveterate migrant, Vyleta has lived in Germany, Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. He currently resides in Stratford-upon-Avon in England.

About this edition

• Publisher: Anchor
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1101910402
• ISBN 13: 9781101910405
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 560