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  • Published: 29 April 2021
  • ISBN: 9780141995427
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 272
Categories:

Riddley Walker




Russell Hoban's masterpiece, a post-apocalyptic vision of humanity stripped back to its essentials

'O what we ben! And what we come to...' Wandering a desolate post-apocalyptic landscape, speaking a broken-down English lost after the end of civilization, Riddley Walker sets out to find out what brought humanity here. This is his story.

  • Published: 29 April 2021
  • ISBN: 9780141995427
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 272
Categories:

About the author

Russell Hoban

Born in Pennsylvania in 1925 to Ukrainian immigrant parents, Russell Hoban's interest in writing started early, with his stories and poetry winning him prizes while still at school. During the war he served in the US Infantry. Following his discharge from the army he held a variety of jobs, including work as a freelance illustrator and a copy-writer. It was during this time that he started writing, taking it up as a full-time occupation in 1967. His first full-length novel, The Mouse and His Child was published in 1968, and is widely regarded as a children's classic. In addition to his acclaimed children's books, Hoban writes for adults. He has lived in London since 1969.

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Praise for Riddley Walker

You are syntactically and emotionally and politically absolutely in the book's spell. The way it changes is unbelievable; it is a living thing.

Max Porter

Extraordinary... a hero with Huck Finn's heart, lighting by El Greco and jokes by Punch and Judy... Fiercely imagined and intensely ponderable.

New York Times Book Review

Russell Hoban has brought off an extraordinary feat of imagination and of style ... funny, terrible, haunting and unsettling, this book is a masterpiece.

The Observer

Suffused with melancholy and wonder, beautifully written, Riddley Walker is a novel people will be reading for a long, long time.

Washington Post

This is what literature is meant to be.

Anthony Burgess

The strongest, most desolate and bewildered voice in modern fiction. In the mental silence that followed the closing of the last page, I wanted to applaud, through tears.

Cosmopolitan

The book has an evangelical effect on people ... Riddley is an absorbing character, Hoban's language has a fantastic, rough poetry and the post-apocalyptic world is chilling and convincing.

Rachel Seiffert, The Observer