Earthly Powers

Anthony Burgess’ sweeping historical fiction is a dramatic tour de force that often surprises and sometimes shocks but never fails to entertain.

"A hellfire tract thrown down by a novelist at the peak of his powers."  -  The Times

As told by the central character himself, Earthly Powers chronicles the life of eminent novelist Kenneth Toomey - from the First World War to the final years of sun-drenched idleness in Malta. A gay man who is unable to reconcile his nature with the teachings of the Church, Toomey opts for a life of loneliness and exile - from the Paris of James Joyce and Ezra Pound to Hollywood at the height of its glamour and corruption - encountering the best and worst of human nature along the way.

"Burgess is the great postmodern storehouse of British writing-an important experimentalist; an encyclopaedic amasser, but also a maker of form; a playful comic, with a dark gloom."  -  Malcolm Bradbury

"Crowded, crammed, bursting with manic erudition, garlicky puns, omnilingual jokes...which meshes the real and personalised history of the twentieth century."  -  Martin Amis

Anthony Burgess is widely recognised as one of the world’s finest and most versatile novelists. His work includes criticism, scripts and translations, and a Broadway musical. He also composed three symphonies that have been publicly performed in the USA. His books include A Clockwork Orange, The Clockwork Testament, Inside Mr Enderby, Enderby’s Dark Lady, Earthly Powers, Abba Abba and The End of the World News.