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The Immortalists

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What to expect

'For someone who loves stories about brothers and sisters, as I do, The Immortalists is about as good as it gets. A memorable and heartfelt look at what might happen to a family who knows too much. It's amazing how good this book is' Karen Joy Fowler

It's 1969, and holed up in a grimy tenement building in New York's Lower East Side is a travelling psychic who claims to be able to tell anyone the date they will die. Four siblings, too young for what they are about to hear, sneak out to hear their fortunes.

We then follow the intertwined paths the siblings take over the course of five decades and, in particular, how they choose to live with the supposed knowledge the fortune-teller gave them that day. This is a story about life, mortality and the choices we make: is it better to live a long and cautious life, or to burn brightly, but for the shortest time?

(P)2018 Headline Publishing Group Ltd

Critics Review

A boundlessly moving inquisition into mortality, grief and passion...The Immortalists is not just a novel about grief; it conjures characters with such dimension that you mourn them too, a magic rare enough to leave one astonished
Observer
Immersive and impressive
The Sunday Times
A captivating family saga
New York Times Book Review
The Immortalists is a compelling and utterly absorbing read with virtuoso storytelling on display. The drive to discover how each character's story unfolds gives the novel a sense of urgency yet Chloe Benjamin's prose - lyrical, tender, perceptive - compels you to linger on every exquisitely crafted sentence: The Immortalists is rich in historical detail and displays immense wisdom in its portrayal of the intensity and messiness of sibling bonds. It is a hugely powerful novel and asks fundamental questions about fate, mortality and life and the ways we choose to live it
Sunday Express
For someone who loves stories about brothers and sisters, as I do, The Immortalists is about as good as it gets. A memorable and heartfelt look at what might happen to a family who knows too much. It's amazing how good this book is
Karen Joy Fowler
Mesmerising, like a well-crafted illusion...Benjamin is a gifted writer, a creator of quiet asides and haunting images, who mines a seam of sad wisdom
Financial Times
Big themes of fate and free will, superstition and rationalism, guilt and legacy bounce back and forth with the lightness of ping-pong balls through this rambunctious novel, as each vividly drawn character grapples with the question of how to live. Benjamin crams her novel with incident, while never stinting on detail. Such is her dazzling sureness of touch that you wonder if here is a writer who is truly capable of anything.
Daily Mail
A stunning, immersive novel, which has echoes of Donna Tartt and Elizabeth Strout, but Benjamin's gift for story-telling is all her own. It's a novel that you'll lose yourself in and foist on all your friends and will still be thinking about it long after you've read the final page. I expect this one to be on all the book award shortlists for 2018 and deservedly so
Red Magazine
One of those books that whenever I wasn't reading it, all I could think about was getting back to it... Incredibly absorbing, hugely moving and that perfect balance of beautiful writing and brilliant storytelling
The Pool
Skilled storytelling, a complex structure that spans decades and vivid characters make this an intelligent, entertaining read
Woman & Home
Once I started reading The Immortalists, I resented every moment I had to spend away from the book until I'd finished. It's an extraordinarily moving, beautifully told and, at times, almost unbearably tense read
Stylist
Skilled storytelling, a complex structure that spans decades and vivid characters make this an intelligent, entertaining read
Woman & Home
As deft and dizzying as a high-wire act... the reader is beguiled with unexpected twists and stylish, crisp prose...[an] ambitious, unorthodox tale
Economist
A great new talent
Lorrie Moore
The very best kind of literary thriller
Richard Russo
A captivating idea, executed with wit, care and enormous charm
Big Issue
THE IMMORTALISTS made me want to hug my siblings. I couldn't put it down
Carys Bray
Such a beautiful, melancholy, absorbing book
Anna James
A beautiful, compassionate, and even joyful novel. Chloe Benjamin has written an inspiring book that makes you think hard about what you want to do with the time you're given. This is not really a book about dying - it's a book about how to live
Nathan Hill, author of THE NIX
The four siblings were so real to me that when I turned the last page I immediately missed their company... I loved how Benjamin conveyed the intimate details of these people, which made them and their stories come alive
Claire Fuller, author of OUR ENDLESS NUMBERED DAYS
Benjamin is at turns funny, tragic, informative, and mystical. And, like a good magic act, you'll be wondering what on earth she'll pull out of the hat next. The Immortalists demands to be discussed, dissected, and pondered long after reading
Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, author of HARMLESS LIKE YOU
One for those who like a rich story along the lines of Manhattan Beach or The Time Traveler's Wife
Irish News
Not many books have this sort of vivid immediacy
Lady
Like literary nectar. I LOVE it
Hannah Beckerman
Imaginative and satisfying . . . A cleverly structured novel steeped in Jewish lore and the history of four decades of American life. The four Gold siblings are wonderful creations, and in Benjamin's expert hands their story becomes a moving meditation on fate, faith, and the family ties that alternately hurt and heal
Publisher’s Weekly
To describe Chloe Benjamin's second novel as a story about the evolution of a family would be true, but wholly insignificant for the breadth and depth of this amazing work of fiction....Her spare, yet gorgeously robust prose belies her youth and every page is imbued with her obvious storytelling skill
Washington Post
Thought-provoking, suspenseful, moving, intelligent. Exquisite.
Will Dean, author of DARK PINES
Moving, rather beautiful, a mystery about how our lives and fate intertwine, this is a novel that will stay on your mind for ages after you've read it and I cannot recommend it any higher
Crime Time
A special book that stays with you long after the last page
Good Housekeeping
A wonderful story of family and life
Prima
Intriguing, page turning and wonderfully written... a story of family, loss and love that's brave enough to ask big questions. It completely captivated me from beginning to end
Kate Hamer
An unpredictable and thought- provoking novel
Lady
Beautifully written and brilliantly well-plotted
Irish Examiner
In its scope and themes, The Immortalists brings to mind Hanya Yanagihaya's A Little Life
Independent
This is quite possibly the book of spring 2018 - it's been everywhere, with salutary quotes from Karen Joy Fowler and The New York Times. Happily, it lives up to the hype
Stylist
The Immortalists worms its way under your skin. Benjamin writes with verve and charm and her four protagonists are resolutely real. She is particularly good at the sibling bond, the unbreakable ties that bind brothers and sisters together even as they drive each other to distraction.It is a testament to Benjamin's skill that, as her story pulls focus from the wild nightclubs of the Castro and the glitter of Las Vegas to life in the suburbs, as youthful exhilaration and recklessness give way to grief and anger frustration and fear, the novel itself does not narrow but instead grows deeper and more absorbing
Guardian
Author Chloe Benjamin
Narrator Maggie Hoffman
Duration 11 hours and 30 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9781472253835
Format x-book®
Publisher Headline
Genre Family life fiction, Modern and contemporary fiction, Speculative fiction
Availability AU, GB, IE

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