The Optimists

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What to expect

'ANDREW MILLER'S WRITING IS A SOURCE OF WONDER AND DELIGHT' Hilary Mantel

'ONE OF OUR MOST SKILFUL CHRONICLERS OF THE HUMAN HEART AND MIND' Sunday Times

'Exceptional'
Sunday Times

'Powerful and lively'
Financial Times

'A delight'
Time Out

The extraordinary fourth novel from the Booker-shortlisted author of Oxygen

In a world where people slaughter the innocent without mercy or retribution, how can we have faith in humanity, or the future?

Clem Glass, a photojournalist, returns from Africa to London convinced there is no hope for mankind. Yet after his sister falls ill and he takes her back to the West Country of their childhood, he cannot ignore the decency and kindness he encounters, or the pulse of goodness in his own heart. When news comes offering Clem the chance to confront the author of his nightmares, he must choose what sort of man to be.


PRAISE FOR ANDREW MILLER

'Unique, visionary, a master at unmasking humanity'
Sarah Hall

'A writer of very rare and outstanding gifts'
Independent on Sunday

'A highly intelligent writer, both exciting and contemplative'
The Times

'A wonderful storyteller'
Spectator

Critics Review

Exceptional . . . it describes a journey with many false starts and blind alleys; in its attention to detail, and its recurring theme of the power of images, it does so spellbindingly
Sunday Times
The writing is clear, precise, feelingly observant . . . Miller is a fine writer
Spectator
A powerful and lively book, seriously engaged and cathartic . . . gently, almost imperceptibly, impelled by the nourishment of love
Financial Times
A novel about humanity and inhumanity, about the nature of truth, reality and representation, and, most of all, about the ways in which we choose to see the world . . . A profound novel, meditative, not conclusive, offering no simplistic answers . . . it leaves the reader with a feeling of courage and, in the face of so much evidence to the contrary, hope
Observer
A shocking, moving but ultimately hopeful vision of the best and worst of humanity
Sunday Express
A delight to read . . . a novel of great intelligence and understanding, populated by characters who are recognisable yet exceptional
Time Out
Beneath the simplicity lies the profundity of Miller's writing . . . In Clem Glass, Miller has created neither a victim nor a victor but a man driven by his own innate decency, a character in whom we can believe, a person about whom we care and that is what great writing is about
Irish Times
The uncluttered narrative and the slow, quiet accumulation of everyday detail imbues this novel with a quiet grace, which is redemptive in itself
Daily Mail
A haunting exploration of good, evil and the possibility of redemption
Red
Miller has found in the tricky subject matter a vein of emotion that he draws from to brilliant effect
Herald
Delicate, compassionate
Metro
Andrew Miller again proved his ability to blend a sturdy and satisfying architecture of character and plot with headline-hot themes
Independent
[There are] some sentences you want to re-read, not because their meaning is unclear, but because they condense the world into a couple of words, capture a certain truth
Sunday Business Post
Once again Miller shows himself to be an acutely sensitive observer of life at a particular moment in history
Wall Street Journal
A work of solemn artistry. Miller's style is one of guarded lyricism, in which he allows just enough poetry in the language to get the job done, the mood or moment caught
New York Times Book Review
Subtle, beautifully written . . . Miller's prose brings grace and lucidity to what is dark and baffling in Clem's predicament, the predicament of a caring man in an uncaring universe
Boston Globe

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