Off-beat, irreverent and subversive – a Jewish family memoir about convenient delusions and unsayable truths, from the acclaimed author of the cult classic novel, Submarine

'The best book I’ve read in the past year . . . A masterpiece' Financial Times

‘A slippery marvel [and] a quixotic voyage into the heart of 20th-century darkness’ Observer

‘Poignant and profound, comic and unconventional – and genuinely, searingly meaningful’ The New York Times

Joe Dunthorne had always wanted to write about his great-grandfather, Siegfried: an eccentric scientist who invented radioactive toothpaste and a Jewish refugee from the Nazis who returned to Germany under cover of the Berlin Olympics to pull off a heist on his own home.

The only problem was that Siegfried had already written the book of his life – an unpublished, two-thousand page memoir so dry and rambling that none of his living descendants had managed to read it. And, as it turned out when Joe finally read the manuscript himself, it told a very different story from the one he thought he knew…

Thus begins a mystery which stretches across the twentieth century and around the world, from Berlin to Ankara, New York, Glasgow and eventually London – a mystery about the production of something much more sinister than toothpaste. On the trail of one ‘jolly grandpa’ with a patchy psychiatric history and an encyclopaedic knowledge of poison gases, Joe Dunthorne is forced to confront the uncomfortable questions that lie at the heart of every family. Can we ever understand where we come from? Is every family in the end a work of fiction? And even if the truth can be found – will we be able to live with it?

Children of Radium is a remarkable, searching meditation on individual and collective inheritance. Witty and wry, deeply humane and endlessly surprising, it considers the long half-life of trauma, the weight of guilt and the ever-evasive nature of the truth.

About the Author

Joe Dunthorne was born and brought up in Swansea. He is the author of three novels and one collection of poetry, including Submarine, which has been translated into fifteen languages and made into an acclaimed film directed by Richard Ayoade, and Wild Abandon, which won the 2012 Encore Award. Children of Radium is his first work of non-fiction. He lives in London.

www.joedunthorne.com

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Store Description

Exp�di� sous 24 heures, livraison �claire garantie.

Visit Seller's Storefront

Seller's business information

BOOKIT! SCM
4 Passage du Rond-Point, Gen�ve, 1205, Switzerland

Sale & Shipping Terms

Terms of Sale

Bibliophile friends, all your orders shipped upon receipt of your payment, great specialist in old books, more than 100,000 new books in stock!

Shipping Terms

Shipped within 24 hours, satisfaction guaranteed!

Shipping rates from Switzerland to U.S.A.

Shipping rates from Switzerland to U.S.A.
Order quantity	12 to 19 business days	6 to 9 business days
First item	US$ 63.31	US$ 85.79

Delivery times are set by sellers and vary by carrier and location. Orders passing through Customs may face delays and buyers are responsible for any associated duties or fees. Sellers may contact you regarding additional charges to cover any increased costs to ship your items.