First Person - Hardcover

Flanagan, Richard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1784742198 ISBN 13: 9781784742195

Publisher: Chatto & Windus, 2017

Synopsis

What is the truth? In this blistering story of a ghostwriter haunted by his demonic subject, the Man Booker Prize winner turns to lies, crime and literature with devastating effect. Kif Kehlmann, a young penniless writer, is rung in the middle of the night by the notorious con man and corporate criminal, Siegfried Heidl. About to go to trial for defrauding the banks of $700 million, Heidl offers Kehlmann the job of ghost-writing his memoir. He has six weeks to write the book, for which he'll be paid $10,000. But as the writing gets under way, Kehlmann begins to fear that he is being corrupted by Heidl. As the deadline draws closer, he becomes ever more unsure if he is ghost writing a memoir, or if Heidl is rewriting him - his life, his future. Everything that was certain grows uncertain as he begins to wonder: who is Siegfried Heidl - and who is Kif Kehlmann? As time runs out, one question looms above all others: what is the truth? By turns compelling, comic, and chilling, this is a haunting journey into the heart of our age.

About this title

About the Author

Richard Flanagan was born in Tasmania in 1961. His novels Death of a River Guide, The Sound of One Hand Clapping, Gould's Book of Fish, The Unknown Terrorist, Wanting and The Narrow Road to the Deep North have received numerous honours and are published in 42 countries. He won the Man Booker Prize for The Narrow Road to the Deep North in 2014.

Review

"First Person is both comic and frightening. At times I caught a glimpse of Money-era Martin Amis in Flanagan's satirical asides on the Australian publishing industry... And there's a hint, too, of an epochal gloom that is redolent of the The Great Gatsby. Yet there are also passages touched with the virtuosity that shone so brightly in The Narrow Road that are pure Flanagan... Studded with sharp, breath-catching observations about the finite nature of life" -- Carl Wilkinson * Financial Times * "The novel, with its switch backing recollections and cyclical dialogue, its penetrating scenes of birth and, eventually, death, is enigmatic and mesmerizing" * The New Yorker * "Perhaps the most prodigal account of writer's block ever written... Despite some sprightly satirical sallies, mostly about publishing, First Person is a serious treatment of important modern issues (corporate corruption, exploitation of trust, the impudent dismissal of truth)" -- David Grylls * Sunday Times * "A black comedy about the unreliability of memory and the warped values of modern publishing... the beauty of First Person is the way it blossoms into a much richer novel than that outline scenario suggests.... readable and thought-provoking" -- Max Davidson * Mail on Sunday * "A dark, occasionally demented book, that is as unsettling as it is inspired" -- Miranda Collinge * Esquire UK * "Electric tension... a smart, slippery novel pitched between book-world satire, psychological thriller and state-of-Australia analysis" -- Anthony Cummins * Daily Mail * "There's some wonderful writing about Tasmania and the wild kayaking exploits which the narrator and Ray enjoyed, at the risk of their lives, in their youth. There is some very fine descriptive writing and narrative passages that go with a swing. There's the sadness of lives gone wrong or torn apart, the desolation that is the consequence of family break-up. Yet the strength of the novel rests in its mordant intelligence, in its recognition that the world today is essentially Ziggy's, one of make-believe and denial... Absorbing" -- Allan Massie * Scotsman * "Richard Flanagan is an ardent voice" -- Eoin McNamee * Irish Times * "The real joy of [First Person] is the intensity of its honesty and its writing. This is a book of demonic possession, of obsession, and there's a zinger of thought, of expression, in every paragraph." -- Phillip Adams * The Australian * "Flanagan is scathingly funny about the world of publishing as seen from the point of view of an unpublished writer, but this is also a profound and thought-provoking novel that explores the nature of truth, lies and fiction" * Bookseller * "First Person is a work that crawls under the reader's skin for its duration. Harrowing in how it lampoons the publishing industry, Flanagan unflinchingly reflects on how social predators within such circles prey on those with a shred of hope or joy until nothing is left of their original identity" -- Michael Lanigan * Hot Press * "The writing and structure are exceptionally good. Richard has fantastic finesse with the use of language and the enviable ability of describing a lot in concentrated amounts... It has a reflective after burn, which I always rate as a skill in its own right, and so it is definitely one, if tempted to, you ought to give it a go. The writing is impressive and most definitely unique" -- Sara Garland * Nudge * "The book is convincing as an exploration of ourselves and the meaning of identity and truth in a "fake news" world." -- Verena Vogt * Belfast Telegraph Morning *

Edition details

• Publisher: Chatto & Windus
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1784742198
• ISBN 13: 9781784742195
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 400