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Farewell to Eden
  • Published: 17 September 2026
  • ISBN: 9781804943359
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Audio Download
  • Narrator: Toby Jones
  • RRP: $38.00

Farewell to Eden

Formats & editions
Tr. Paperback
15 Sept 2026
Hardback
17 Oct 2026
EBook
17 Sept 2026
Audiobook
17 Sept 2026
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An epic new novel from master storyteller Sebastian Faulks, author of the Sunday Times bestseller BIRDSONG

Philip Deval, a soldier recently returned from the beaches of Normandy, arrives in Palestine on a peace-keeping mission in the final days of the British Mandate. The Sea of Galilee glitters in the distance as war-weary troops marvel at the novelty of oranges and sun – a paradise that belies a fierce new conflict about to erupt.

Some years later, Philip begins work teaching at a school in the English countryside and meets the enigmatic music mistress, Frances Darwood. Over long evenings spent listening to records in her music room, they grow close. But Philip is a changed man, and must confront the secrets and scars of all he has lived through – which threaten, even now, to upend his future.

Farewell to Eden is a sweeping and profound novel about faith in all its forms, and a rich portrait of an embattled post-war Britain. It asks the question: how, after great suffering, do we retain our humanity, learn to love again, and believe in the promise of a better life?
  • Published: 17 September 2026
  • ISBN: 9781804943359
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Audio Download
  • Narrator: Toby Jones
  • RRP: $38.00
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About the author

Sebastian Faulks

Sebastian Faulks has written nineteen books, of which A Week in December and The Fatal Englishman were number one in the Sunday Times bestseller lists. He is best known for Birdsong, part of his French trilogy, and Human Traces, the first in an ongoing Austrian trilogy. Before becoming a full-time writer, he worked as a journalist on national papers. He has also written screenplays and has appeared in small roles on stage. He lives in London.
portrait photo of Sebastian Faulks

Also by Sebastian Faulks

Snow Country
Paris Echo
Fires Which Burned Brightly
Pistache Returns
Human Traces
A Week in December
The Seventh Son
See all

Praise for Farewell to Eden

A fascinating, timely and densely pleasurable novel, written with measured and impressive intelligence and tremendous narrative aplomb.

WILLIAM BOYD

Beautifully written and deceptively deep novel of moral choice set in the aftermath of the Second World War. The characters are as utterly convincing as the story.

ANTONY BEEVOR

A richly researched and deeply humane meditation on love, faith and the long afterlife of war, set amid the final years of the British Mandate in Palestine and post-war England. Faulks has an extraordinary gift for showing how the sweep of history is lived through the quiet complexities of individual lives.

HANNAH ROTHSCHILD, author of the Women's Prize shortlisted novel THE IMPROBABILITY OF LOVE

Faulks is one of the titans of historical fiction ... [and] has this gift for really bringing to life the minutiae of the suffering of war and violence. ... It's a really arresting book and important work of storytelling. A must-read.

Afua Hirsch

An evocative story

Times Literary Supplement

A magnificent, sprawling novel full of humane detail - you won't want it to end. It's a powerful reminder, too, of our greatest privilege to be reading in a time and place of relative peace.

Evening Standard

A timely masterpiece; a riveting story of war and love across two scarred terrains. A profound meditation on morality, faith and music [...] with wonderful moments of lightness and wit. A novel that both entertains and educates. You finish it smarter, wiser and more compassionate towards our postlapsarian world.

The Spectator

A sweeping saga that intertwines historical events and deeply human experiences. A perfect balance of history faith and humanity with a delicious twist.

Press Association

Feels as fresh as ever.

Belfast Telegraph

A sweeping saga that seamlessly intertwines historical events and deeply human experiences It's a perfect balance of history faith and a little humanity.

Yorkshire Post