Book description
‘Superbly illuminates the man, the time, and the everlasting quest for
knowledge’
Observer
Johannes Kepler, born in 1571 in south Germany, was one of the world’s
greatest mathematicians and astronomers. This novel brilliantly
recreates his life and his incredible drive to chart the orbits of the
planets and the geometry of the universe while being driven from exile
to exile by religious and domestic strife. At the same time it
illuminates the harsh realities of the Renaissance world; rich in
imaginative daring but rooted in poverty, squalor and the tyrannical
power of emperors.
‘Narrative art at a positively symphonic level’ Guardian
‘One knows one is in the presence of a writer extraordinary. Wearing
his vast research lightly, Mr Banville not only summons Kepler and his
company of vivid souls but leads us into the small dark rooms’ Sunday
Telegraph
‘This very distinguished novel . . . is done with very considerable
skill; it suggests that this is what such a life must indeed have been
like and the result is a wonderfully human figure, rife with feelings,
principles, regrets and courage’ Sunday Times
‘An outstandingly good novel . . . a novel that dramatizes and
celebrates intellectual passion. Which makes it a very rare novel
indeed’ Irish Press
John Banville was born in Wexford, Ireland, in 1945. He is the author
of fourteen previous novels including The Sea
, which won the 2005 Man Booker Prize. He has received a literary award
from the Lannan Foundation. He lives in Dublin.
