
Shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2021. An astrobiologist thinks of a creative way to help his rare and troubled son in Richard Powers’ deeply moving and brilliantly original novel.
With pitch perfect precision, Richard Powers tells the story of a musician journeying into his past as he desperately flees the present.
One evening, 70-year old avant-garde composer Peter Els opens his front door to find the police on his doorstep. His home microbiology lab - the latest experiment in his lifelong attempt to discover musical patterns in DNA strands - has come to the attention of Homeland Security. Panicked by the raid, Els flees and turns fugitive. In response, the government promises a terrified nation that the ‘Bioterrorist Bach’ will be found and brought to trial.
About the Author
Richard Powers is the multi-award-winning American author of 13 novels, who has now been shortlisted twice for the Booker Prize.