The chimes
"After the end of a brutal civil war, London is divided, with slums standing next to a walled city of elites. Monk-like masters are selected for special schooling and shut away for decades, learning to write beautiful compositions for the chimes, played citywide morning and night, to mute memor...
| Main Author: | Smaill, Anna, 1979- (Author) |
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| Format: | Books Print Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
New York :
Quercus,
2016.
|
| Edition: | First edition. |
| Subjects: |
| Summary: |
"After the end of a brutal civil war, London is divided, with slums standing next to a walled city of elites. Monk-like masters are selected for special schooling and shut away for decades, learning to write beautiful compositions for the chimes, played citywide morning and night, to mute memory and keep the citizens trapped in ignorance. A young orphan named Simon arrives in London with nothing but the vague sense of a half-forgotten promise, to locate someone. What he finds is a new family--a gang of scavengers that patrols the underbelly of the city looking for valuable metal to sell. Drawn in by an enigmatic and charismatic leader, a blind young man named Lucien with a gift for song, Simon forgets entirely what originally brought him to the place he has now made his home. In this alternate London, the past is a mystery, each new day feels the same as the last, and before is considered "blasphony." But Simon has a unique gift--the gift of retaining memories--that will lead him to discover a great injustice and take him far beyond the meager life as a member of Lucien's gang. Before long he will be engaged in an epic struggle for justice, love, and freedom. The Chimes is an impressive work of speculative fiction, an imaginative adventure elegantly told. The Chimes reveals the human capacity to create both beauty and terror, in art and in life"--Provided by publisher. |
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| Item Description: |
Originally published: London : Sceptre, 2015. |
| Physical Description: |
286 pages ; 24 cm |
| ISBN: |
9781681445342 1681445344 9781681445328 1681445328 |
| Author Notes: |
Anna Smaill was born in Auckland in 1979. She attended Canterbury University to study writing. She holds an MA in English Literature from the University of Auckland and an MA in Creative Writing from the Internatipnal Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University of Wellington. Her first book of poetry, The Violinist in Spring was published in 2005 and was listed as one of the Best Books of 2006 by the New Zealand Listener. The Chimes is her debut novel and it made The New Zealand Best Seller List. The Chimes also won the 2016 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel. She was also named an Honorary Literary Fellows in the New Zealand Society of Authors' annual Waitangi Day Honours 2016. (Bowker Author Biography) |