Shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2004, David Mitchell’s genre-defying ‘Russian doll’ epic remains one of the most original, unusual and polarising works in the Booker Library. As it celebrates its 20th anniversary, here’s our guide to the novel
Cloud Atlas
Written by David Mitchell
- Shortlisted
- The Man Booker Prize 2004
- Published by Sceptre
Buy the book
David Mitchell erases the boundaries of language, genre and time to offer a meditation on humanity’s dangerous will to power, and where it may lead us
A reluctant voyager crossing the Pacific in 1850; a disinherited composer blagging a precarious livelihood in between-the-wars Belgium; a high-minded journalist in Governor Reagan’s California; a vanity publisher fleeing his gangland creditors; a genetically modified ‘dinery server’ on death-row; and Zachry, a young Pacific Islander witnessing the nightfall of science and civilisation. Six stories that echo and impact on each other, and that together point to a terrifying vision of the future.
David Mitchell
David Mitchell has written nine novels and adapted his work for screen and stage. He was born in 1969 on the Lancashire coast, but was raised in Malvern, Worcestershire
More about David Mitchell Other nominated books by David Mitchell
A metaphysical thriller, a meditation on mortality and a chronicle of our self-devouring times - from the masterful David Mitchell
A love story, an adventure, a study of corruption and a glimpse into a hidden world - David Mitchell’s novel is a historical fiction like no other
David Mitchell’s wry, painful and disconcertingly funny novel charts 13 months in the black hole between childhood and adolescence
The second novel from David Mitchell, critically-acclaimed author of Ghostwritten and Cloud Atlas, is a mysterious coming-of-age story, set in Japan
Features
- Book recommendations
Booker Prize books that have been adapted for film and television
- Book recommendations
Eight Booker Prize-nominated books for World Environment Day
- Book recommendations
Six Booker Prize-nominated post-apocalyptic books
- Book recommendations
10 of the best sci-fi books nominated for the Booker Prizes
- Book recommendations