Synopses & Reviews
Celebrated novelist John Lanchester (author of The Debt to Pleasure) returns with an epic novel that captures the obsessions of our time. It’s 2008 and things are falling apart: Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers are going under, and the residents of Pepys Road, London — a banker and his shopaholic wife, an old woman dying of a brain tumor and her graffiti-artist grandson, Pakistani shop owners and a shadowy refugee who works as the meter maid, the young soccer star from Senegal and his minder — are receiving anonymous postcards reading “We Want What You Have.” Who is behind it? What do they want? Epic in scope yet intimate, capturing the ordinary dramas of very different lives, this is a novel of love and suspicion, of financial collapse and terrorist threat, of property values going up and fortunes going down, and of a city at a moment of extraordinary tension.
Review
"Delightful....Fresh, astutely observed, and a lot of fun." Sebastian Smee, Boston Globe
Review
"Precise, humane and often hilarious, John Lanchester’s Capital teems with life. Its Dickensian sweep and its clear-eyed portrayal of the end of a strange era make this novel not only immensely enjoyable, but important, too." Claire Messud, author of The Emperor's Children
Review
"Full of spectacular comedy — and menace....The effect is like one of those cut-away illustrations that show the interior of every room in an apartment complex." Ron Charles, Washington Post
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"A big, funny, sure-footed novel...rich in observation and warm in spirit." Dan Kois, Slate
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"Like getting a crash course in the transformation of British mores and class distinctions. [A] nuanced portrait of a country in flux." Liesl Schillinger, New York Times Book Review
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"Searching, expert, on the money. I loved it." Liesl Schillinger, New York Times Book Review
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"As enrapturing as it is psychologically acute… Capital portrays an authentic slice of contemporary life on the eve of change in a way that recalls Franzen — with a welcome touch of wry humor." Bookpage
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"Capital comes in a great tradition of novels which are filled with the news of now, in which the intricacies of the present moment are noticed with clarity and relish and then brilliantly dramatized. It is clear that its characters, its wisdom, and the scope and range of its sympathy, will fascinate readers into the far future." Cólm Toibín, author of Brooklyn
Review
"Brimming with perception, humane empathy and relish, its portrayal of this metropolitan miscellany is, in every sense, a capital achievement." Times on Sunday (UK)
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"The book John Lanchester was born to write." Evening Standard (UK)
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"An exceptionally capacious and involving tale about disparate lives in turmoil on London’s Pepys Road…. Lanchester makes us care deeply about his imperiled characters and their struggles, traumatic and ludicrous, as he astutely illuminates the paradoxes embedded in generosity and greed, age and illness, financial crime and religious fanaticism, immigration, exile, and terror. A remarkably vibrant and engrossing novel about what we truly value." The Guardian (UK)
Review
"Effortlessly brilliant—gripping for its entire duration, hugely moving and outrageously funny." Donna Seaman Booklist
Review
"Brilliant." Boston Globe
Synopsis
One of the most talked about books of the year, Capital is a sweeping social novel by the writer hailed on the cover of the New York Times Book Review as “a brainy, pleasure-loving polymath.”
Synopsis
Each house on Pepys Road, an ordinary street in London, has seen its fair share of first steps and last breaths, and plenty of laughter in between. But each of the street's residents--a rich banker and his shopaholic wife, a soccer prodigy from Senegal, Pakistani shop owners, a dying old woman and her graffiti-artist son--is receiving a menacing postcard with a simple message: "We Want What You Have." Who is behind this? What do they really want? In Capital, John Lanchester ("an elegant and wonderfully witty writer"--New York Times) delivers a warm and compassionate novel that captures the anxieties of our time--property values going up, fortunes going down, a potential terrorist around every corner--with an unforgettable cast of characters.
About the Author
John Lanchester is the author of three novels, including the widely translated The Debt to Pleasure. He is a regular contributor to The New Yorker and was awarded the 2008 E.M. Forster Award. He lives in London.