The Chimes

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What to expect

A Bookseller Best Debut of 2015

One to Watch 2015 Huffington Post

An Amazon Rising Star

'The Chimes is a remarkable debut. It's inventive, beautifully written, and completely absorbing. I highly recommend it.' Kevin Powers, author of The Yellow Birds

A mind-expanding literary debut composed of memory, music and imagination.

A boy stands on the roadside on his way to London, alone in the rain.

No memories, beyond what he can hold in his hands at any given moment.

No directions, as written words have long since been forbidden.

No parents - just a melody that tugs at him, a thread to follow. A song that says if he can just get to the capital, he may find some answers about what happened to them.

The world around Simon sings, each movement a pulse of rhythm, each object weaving its own melody, music ringing in every drop of air.

Welcome to the world of The Chimes. Here, life is orchestrated by a vast musical instrument that renders people unable to form new memories. The past is a mystery, each new day feels the same as the last, and before is blasphony.

But slowly, inexplicably, Simon is beginning to remember. He emerges from sleep each morning with a pricking feeling, and sense there is something he urgently has to do. In the city Simon meets Lucien, who has a gift for hearing, some secrets of his own, and a theory about the danger lurking in Simon's past.

A stunning debut composed of memory, music, love and freedom, The Chimes pulls you into a world that will captivate, enthral and inspire.

(P)2015 Hodder & Stoughton

Critics Review

WINNER OF THE 2016 WORLD FANTASY AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL AND NOMINATED FOR THE 2015 MAN BOOKER PRIZE
To call The Chimes striking is I dare say to underplay what might be the most distinctive debut of the decade.
Tor.com
SUPERB... intriguing, ambitious and strikingly written.
James Kidd, Independent on Sunday
The Chimes is a remarkable debut. It's inventive, beautifully written, and completely absorbing. I highly recommend it.
Kevin Powers, author of THE YELLOW BIRDS
A genuinely originalnovel that has all the tension of a well-told, gripping thriller, but which is elevated well above the ordinary by its shining, lyrical language. The author has created a believable, consistent and vivid world...
Clare Morrall
Cleverly orchestrated and poignantly conveyed throughout.
Guardian
The novel is hypnotic, melancholic and requires concentration, but it builds to an incredibly tense and emotionally satisfying climax that rewards all the effort.
Elle
Smaill is a former musician with a book of poetry already to her name. The Chimes has strong echoes of both these influences as we're taken on a strange and lyrical journey through a dystopian England . . . The intrinsic links between music and memory suffuse this dreamy narrative . . . the idiosyncratic world [that] Smaill has lovingly created using melodic and musical syntax - her narrative style brimming with invention and nuance.
The Big Issue
The pleasure lies in getting to grips with the rules of this eerie dystopia and the unusual vocabulary Smaill has minted to describe it.
Metro
Atmospheric, intensely-imagined strangeness
Daily Mail
Strangely compelling
Sainsbury’s Magazine
A dazzling debut piece of fantasy that marries great writing with compelling narrative. And the world Smaill has invented, where memory has been replaced by music and people cling to objects that link them to their pasts, is brilliantly imagined.... a serious book with serious talent behind it.
New Zealand Herald
Magical, tender, thought provoking and stunningly imaginative.
Lindsay Hawdon, author of JAKOB'S COLOURS
Dystopian fiction but not quite as we know it... Smaill's particular melodious inventiveness makes her story her own.
Independent
Anna Smail's ambition fiction debut is a strange, compelling tale; full of musical metaphors and striking imagery, it is wildly imaginative and challenging.
Choice Magazine
An exciting debut, a book full of rhythm, energy and melody... There's no doubt Smaill has created a distinctive and impressive debut, one that dares to create its own music.
The List
An enthralling read.
The Lady
lyrical debut
Sunday Express
This is a story that rivets us from the beginning but, for those wanting more, there are delicious depths that change an excellent story into an equally excellent thought provoking fable. As if that isn't enough, it also convinces us that Anna is a very clever lady. ... hugely compelling ... Oh yes, this is definitely a 'Wow!' book.
The Bookbag
For a story about music, The Chimes is a triumph on the printed page.
SFX Magazine
Cleverly orchestrated
Guardian
Entrancingly poetic and engagingly plotted, this is a story that brims with heart and soul.
Kirkus reviews

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