Author:Deborah Baker
Winner of the Kekoo Naoroji Award for Mountain Literature 2019
An engrossing story of passion and exploration that traces the end of empire and the stirring of a new world order.
John Auden was a pioneering geologist of the Himalayas. Michael Spender was the first to draw a detailed map of the North Face of Mount Everest. While their younger brothers – W. H. Auden and Stephen Spender – achieved literary fame, they vied for a place on an expedition that would finally conquer Everest. To this rivalry was added another: their shared love for a painter named Nancy Sharp. Her choice would determine each man’s wartime loyalties.
From Calcutta to pre-war London to Everest itself, The Last Englishmen tracks a generation obsessed with a romantic ideal. With a cast including writers, artists, political rogues and spies, this is narrative history at its most engaging and illuminating.
'Wholly original... It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that there is something Tolstoyan to Baker's vast project... Remarkable' Neel Mukherjee
‘An exuberant, scene-changing, shapeshifting group biography’ Spectator
Wholly original...a dense, rich, exhilarating piece of work that moves deftly between worlds and peoples...she keeps the big events always in view, dramatizing and humanizing the workings of history, particularly the story of empire and its machinations, in a way a novelist would – by making it a story of individuals... It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that there is something Tolstoyan to her vast project...remarkable
—— Neel Mukherjee , Wall Street JournalIn The Last Englishmen, Deborah Baker has written an exuberant, scene-changing, shapeshifting group biography, with John Auden and Michael Spender as its chief human protagonists. But she makes the Himalayas, and Mount Everest, palpable and vivid characters in her story too
—— Richard Davenport-Hines , SpectatorDeborah Baker combines a novelistic alertness to the inner life with an anthropologist’s understanding of multiple cultures and a historian’s eye for major events. The result, yet again, is a continuously absorbing and stimulating book, which enlarges the cultural and political history of the mid-20th century even as it grippingly relates the adventures of a few men and women
—— Pankaj MishraLove, war, politics, psychoanalysis, poetry, Calcutta and, especially, the Himalayas – Deborah Baker’s meticulously researched account of India and Britain in the forties reads like the very best of novels.
—— Siddhartha DebAn enlightening and utterly compelling read… what really distinguishes the book is its brilliant characterisation and its structural agility. It reads like fiction. Anyone seeking only information will be disappointed. Non-fiction ought always to be this engaging
—— John Keay , Literary ReviewA refreshingly novel account… this is skilful work, showing ordinary individuals as they cope–or buckle–while great geopolitical events twist and shape their lives
—— EconomistA Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist takes readers on a journey through the Indian subcontinent at the closing of the British Empire... Seemingly covering disparate topics, Baker beautifully connects them all with an incisive, clear writing style and sharp descriptions of the terrain. A book for any readers curious about India after 1900
—— KirkusSeemingly covering disparate topics, Baker beautifully connects them all with an incisive, clear writing style and sharp descriptions of the terrain. A book for any readers curious about India after 1900
—— BooklistVivid… Baker tells her story as if it were fiction… The result is a book with the narrative sweep of an epic novel
—— Peter Parker , The OldieAmbitious and entertaining… The history of Empire is seen here through a unique prism
—— Jules Stewart , GeographicalSatisfying and elegant... The book’s narrative style is inseparable from its conception of history: it illustrates the essential inwardness of historical experience, and its unexpected conjunctions and coincidences evoke the miscellaneous reality of ordinary life. More than once while reading The Last Englishmen I found myself thinking of Stendhal’s account of the Battle of Waterloo from Fabrice’s marginal perspective, in The Charterhouse of Parma, and of Virginia Woolf’s portrait of a nation on the brink of war, without mentioning it, in an English country house in Between the Acts
—— Edward Mendelson , Book PostSkilfully constructed… The Last Englishmen… [is] a real achievement
—— Elizabeth Baigent , Times Literary SupplementBaker is able to inhabit characters from both [India and England], not merely as political entities...but as confused and deluded human beings, crashing into one another with all the dissatisfaction and self-doubt that membership in your and my species entails. The result is a book that offers not only the historical facts, but also a convincing three-dimensional experience of the withering of European ambitions in Asia.
—— Rupert Arrowsmith , South East Asia ReviewBound to be one of the biggest books of the autumn... Exhilarating… compulsively readable and with almost every page providing something juicy to chew on.
—— Reader's DigestIntelligent, lucid and refreshingly unpretentious.
—— DesignCurialThe book contains many gems… compelling… accompany the author as he peers fascinatingly into the future.
—— EconomistHarari’s purpose is admirable. He wishes to empower ordinary people with his clear thinking.
—— Liz Ryan , UK Press SyndicationIt feels urgent and necessary, as though it is capturing a crucial moment in time… It is a direct call to action and probably the most genuinely impactful of all three Harari books.
—— Culture CallingI’m predicting that 21 Lessons for the 21st Century will complete a Harari hat-trick of classics… The clarity of Harari's vision is astonishing... thanks to him, the world makes better sense to many more of us.
—— Bookseller *Book of the Month*Compelling reading.
—— Daniel Snowman , Jewish ChronicleThis is an important book.
—— PQ21 Lessons is another extremely readable volume [from Harari].
—— Emily Nicolle , City AMWith Harari's incise vision and measured prose this is a book to convert those dormant anxieties and Evening-News-induced insomnia into a deeper, more empowered comprehension.
—— Culture WhisperHarari effortlessly jumps between diverse topics.
—— Dov Greenbaum and Mark Gerstein , ScienceA thought-provoking, provocative, informative, terrifying, fact-filled series of essays which get the reader thinking, worrying and hoping.
—— Marina Vaizey , The Tablet, **Books of the Year**Harari essentially takes the pulse of society today and worldwide.
—— Pierre Jacques , Revolution[Harari] is a rare voice of calm reassurance, slicing through chaos.
—— Allan Hunter , Daily MirrorVividly written and spiked with references to Monty Python and The Lion King, Harari’s essays are thought-provoking and accessible
—— Jane Shilling , Daily MailA rollercoaster philosophical review of where we find ourselves today… 21 Lessons for the 21st Century is an absorbing, realistic, stark, yet hopeful book.
—— Perry Timms , Dialogue ReviewA bold and provocative read that expands one's frame of mind on the present-day world as we know it with the author's unique perceptions.
—— Chirag Jain , News PuddleIf there are people around to write history books in the future, they will look back at the @ExtinctionR protestors and think they were the sanest people of our time. Read The Uninhabitable Earth by @dwallacewells if you don't know why.
—— Johann Hari, TwitterIf we don't want our grandchildren to curse us, we had better read this book.
—— Timothy Snyder, author of 'On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twenty-first Century'David Wallace-Wells argues that the impacts of climate change will much graver than most people realize, and he's right. The Uninhabitable Earth is a timely and provocative work.
—— Elizabeth Kolbert, author of 'The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History'Trigger warning: when scientists conclude that yesterday's worst-case scenario for global warming is probably unwarranted optimism, it's time to ask Scotty to beam you up. At least that was my reaction upon finishing Wallace-Wells' brilliant and unsparing analysis of a nightmare that is no longer a distant future but our chaotic, burning present.
—— Mike DavisA lucid and thorough description of our unprecedented crisis, and of the mechanisms of denial with which we seek to avoid its fullest recognition.
—— William GibsonBrilliant at the futility of human action.
—— Sarah CromptonA masterpiece of operatic proportions … What Powers means to explore is a sense of how we become who we are, individually and collectively, and our responsibility to the planet and to ourselves … A magnificent achievement: a novel that is, by turns, both optimistic and fatalistic, idealistic without being naïve.
—— KirkusHis masterpiece.
—— HeraldYou will careen through this book. The prose is driven. You don’t really get to draw breath … The writing is steel-edged, laser-sharp when Richard Powers wants it to be. When he sets out to nail meaning, it’s done. There are sentences you return to and wonder at.
—— Irish TimesThis walk through the woods via words is a passionate paean to the natural world that prompts us to appreciate afresh our place on the planet.
—— i news[I]t’s huge, it’s exciting, it’s wondrous … This really deserves to be read.
—— BookmunchThe Overstory is a book you learn from.
—— SpectatorDazzlingly written… Among the best novels I’ve read this decade… Despite its deep-time perspective, it could hardly be more of-the-moment
—— Robert Macfarlane , GuardianA beautiful novel about humans reconnecting with nature in a fascinatingly, inventive world with colourful, rich characters, it will rekindle your love for nature
—— Asian VoiceAn intriguing, powerful book
—— Maddy Prior , Daily ExpressAbsolutely blown away by this epic, heartbreaking novel about us and trees
—— Emma DonoghueThis extraordinary novel transformed my view of nature. Never again will I pass great tree without offering a quiet but heartfelt incantation of thanks, gratitude and wonder
—— Hannah Rothschild , Waitrose WeekendA sweeping novel that skilfully intertwines many different stories of trees and people to create a paean to the hidden power and vital importance of the natural world
—— Country & Town HouseAbsorbing, thought-provoking and more than enough incentive to embrace your inner tree-hugger
—— Culture WhisperThe Overstory is filled with character and incident enough to engage anybody, but it's also filled with philosophy, science, poetry, and colour. It's a celebration of the world and humanity, but also tells of our coming doom. Perhaps above all it's a eulogy to trees. Eulogy is the right word because the novel celebrates the life, the beauty and wisdom of trees-but also their death. The novel also casts a cold-but loving-eye on humanity
—— Richard Smith , British Medical JournalThe Overstory has the mix of science and fiction that I so love; it widens my understanding and respect for the creatures who share this planet
—— KAREN JOY FOWLERStunning... It's been one of those rare books that has had a profound effect on me, and which has changed my perspective on life
—— Paul Ready , Yorkshire PostMind-boggling and visionary. The multi-stranded novel is a masterpiece in which science and poetry are deeply intertwined
—— Andrea Wulf, author of MAGNIFICENT REBELS , GuardianA compelling read is that is near impossible to put down
—— Adoption TodayThe Overstory is a prescient novel that urges us to take responsibility for our actions
—— Far OutA masterpiece of storytelling at its very best. Powers weaves together science, poetry, nature and humanity so beautifully that it makes my heart ache and my mind fly
—— Andrea Wulf , GuardianA wild and expansive novel, knitting together a glorious and diverse cast of characters, some of them human, some of them trees. I defy you not to be moved, and then angered about what we are doing to our planet and these glorious sentinels rooted upon it
—— Greg Wise , WeekMy novel of the year was Richard Powers' masterpiece, The Overstory... it's a magnificent read
—— Mark Connors , Northern Soul, *Books of the Year*The Overstory by Richard Powers is likely the most beautiful book ever written about people and trees
—— Andy Hunter , Spectator