New Releases by John Banville

Une lettre, et tout bascule. Vous pouviez être un éminent professeur qui mène la belle vie en Californie, puis soudainement partir pour Turin tuer la femme qui dit avoir découvert votre plus grand secret. Car cette vie, vous ne la méritez pas, Alex Vander ne la mérite pas : depuis la Seconde Guerre mondiale, il usurpe l'identité de son ami mystérieusement disparu. Et la chercheuse Cass Cleave, obsédée par le travail de Vander, pourrait bien tout révéler. La rencontre entre Vander et Cleave sera décisive : commettra-t-il l'irréparable pour empêcher la vérité d'éclater ou trouvera-t-il enfin la rédemption dans l'amour qu'elle lui porte ? " Hypnotique. Avec Impostures, Banville nous démontre que les termes "art' et "chef-d'œuvre' gardent toute leur pertinence. " The New York Times

The classic novel by "Irish master" (New Yorker) and Booker Prize–winner John Banville brings to life the dramatic and surprising world of sixteenth-century astronomer Nicolas Copernicus and the theory that would shatter the medieval view of the universe. Sixteenth-century Europe is teeming with change and controversy: wars are being waged by princes and bishops and the repercussions of Luther are being felt through a convulsing Germany. In a remote corner of Poland, a modest canon is practicing medicine and studying the heavens, preparing a theory that will shatter the medieval view of the universe. In this astonishing work of historical imagination, John Banville offers a vivid portrait of a man of painful reticence. For, in a world that is equal parts splendor and barbarism, an obscure cleric who seeks “the secret music of the universe” poses a most devastating threat. "A tour de force… Exciting, beautifully written and astonishingly redolent of the late medieval world." —The Times

" Neige sur Ballyglass House est certainement l'un des meilleurs romans noirs de John Banville, et l'un des meilleurs romans noirs jamais écrits. " The Globe and Mail Irlande, 1957. Après la découverte du cadavre émasculé d'un prêtre très respecté dans la majestueuse bibliothèque de Ballyglass House – le manoir de l'énigmatique famille Osborne –, le Detective Inspector Strafford, prénom Saint John (à prononcer " Sinjun "), est appelé de Dublin pour enquêter. Alors que la neige tombe sans discontinuer sur la campagne irlandaise, Saint John, un protestant dégingandé loin des clichés de la profession, est bien déterminé à lever le voile sur cette affaire. Mais c'est compter sans les habitants de Ballyglass House et des alentours, prêts à tout pour protéger leurs – nombreux – secrets. Un cadavre dans la bibliothèque, des personnages hauts en couleur, un soupçon de cynisme et une plume d'une grande qualité littéraire : tout est réuni pour faire de Neige sur Ballyglass House un incontournable du genre. " Banville reprend les codes d'un Agatha Christie avant de les faire voler en éclats d'une main de maître. " The New York Times Book Review

Aan de idyllische kust van de Spaanse stad San Sebastian kan patholoog Quirke maar moeilijk rust vinden, ondanks de stranden, de cafés en het gezelschap van zijn ontwapenend liefdevolle vrouw. Wanneer hij in een bar een bekend gezicht denkt te zien, denkt hij dat zijn verbeelding met hem aan de loop is gegaan. Deze jonge vrouw kán niet April Latimer zijn. Zij werd immers jaren geleden door haar broer vermoord – zo was de conclusie van een geruchtmakende zaak die de Ierse politieke verhoudingen op hun grondvesten had laten schudden. Niet in staat de kwestie uit zijn hoofd te zetten, belt Quirke naar Ierland, en al snel wordt rechercheur St. John Strafford naar Spanje gezonden. Maar Strafford is niet de enige die op pad gaat. Een meedogenloze huurmoordenaar jaagt op zijn nieuwste prooi, en zijn slachtoffer zou weleens Quirke zelf kunnen zijn.

«Un talento quasi feroce nel leggere l'animo degli uomini» Don DeLillo «Banville, ovvero il piacere di leggere il romanzo di un maestro.» Kirkus Reviews L’anatomopatologo Quirke è in vacanza con la moglie in Spagna, sulla splendida costa di San Sebastián, quando una sera in un locale intravede un volto familiare. C’è una ragazza che assomiglia come una goccia d’acqua a April Latimer, un’amica di sua figlia. Ma non può essere April, perché lei è stata uccisa dal fratello anni prima, un indicibile scandalo che ha scosso una delle più importanti dinastie politiche irlandesi. Qualcosa non torna. Incapace di mettere a tacere il suo istinto, Quirke fa una telefonata a Dublino alla figlia Phoebe, per chiederle di raggiungerlo e trovare risposta ai suoi dubbi. Anche il sovrintendente Hackett, però, messo a conoscenza del fatto, intuisce che qualcosa non va e chiede all’ispettore Strafford di accompagnare la ragazza. Strafford, protestante di famiglia anglo­irlandese, con il suo orologio da tasca e il suo completo di tweed, con i suoi modi garbati e distratti e gli Annali di Tacito in mano, sembra la classica figura fuori posto. Ma sotto la giacca ha una pistola, e non è ­l’unico uomo armato a essere approdato dal­l’Irlanda sulla costa spagnola: c’è anche un misterioso e implacabile killer a caccia della sua prossima vittima… Un noir elegante, classico e assolutamente coinvolgente, che cattura il lettore pagina dopo pagina fino al drammatico finale.

*NATIONAL BESTSELLER* Booker Prize winner John Banville returns with a dark and evocative new mystery set on the Spanish coast Don't disturb the dead… On the idyllic coast of San Sebastian, Spain, Dublin pathologist Quirke is struggling to relax, despite the beaches, cafés and the company of his disarmingly lovely wife. When he glimpses a familiar face in the twilight at Las Acadas bar, it's hard at first to tell whether his imagination is just running away with him. Because this young woman can't be April Latimer. She was murdered by her brother, years ago—the conclusion to an unspeakable scandal that shook one of Ireland's foremost political dynasties. Unable to ignore his instincts, Quirke makes a call back home to Ireland and soon Detective St. John Strafford is dispatched to Spain. But he's not the only one en route. A relentless hit man is on the hunt for his latest prey, and the next victim might be Quirke himself. Sumptous, propulsive and utterly transporting, April in Spain is the work of a master writer at the top of his game. Don't miss John Banville's next novel, The Lock-up! Other riveting mysteries from John Banville: Snow

*NATIONAL BESTSELLER* *SHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA HISTORICAL DAGGER AWARD* A Globe and Mail Best Book of the Year A New York Times Editors’ Choice Pick “Banville sets up and then deftly demolishes the Agatha Christie format…superbly rich and sophisticated.”—New York Times Book Review The incomparable Booker Prize winner’s next great crime novel—the story of a family whose secrets resurface when a parish priest is found murdered in their ancestral home Detective Inspector St. John Strafford has been summoned to County Wexford to investigate a murder. A parish priest has been found dead in Ballyglass House, the family seat of the aristocratic, secretive Osborne family. The year is 1957 and the Catholic Church rules Ireland with an iron fist. Strafford—flinty, visibly Protestant and determined to identify the murderer—faces obstruction at every turn, from the heavily accumulating snow to the culture of silence in the tight-knit community he begins to investigate. As he delves further, he learns the Osbornes are not at all what they seem. And when his own deputy goes missing, Strafford must work to unravel the ever-expanding mystery before the community’s secrets, like the snowfall itself, threaten to obliterate everything. Beautifully crafted, darkly evocative and pulsing with suspense, Snow is “the Irish master” (New Yorker) John Banville at his page-turning best. Don't miss John Banville's next novel, The Lock-up! Other riveting mysteries from John Banville: April in Spain

"When you're done binge-watching The Crown, pick up this multifaceted wartime thriller." —Kirkus Reviews As London endures nightly German bombings, Britain’s secret service whisks the princesses Elizabeth and Margaret from England, seeking safety for the young royals on an old estate in Ireland. Ahead of the German Blitz during World War II, English parents from every social class sent their children to the countryside for safety, displacing more than three million young offspring. In The Secret Guests, the British royal family takes this evacuation a step further, secretly moving the princesses to the estate of the Duke of Edenmore in “neutral” Ireland. A female English secret agent, Miss Celia Nashe, and a young Irish detective, Garda Strafford, are assigned to watch over “Ellen” and “Mary” at Clonmillis Hall. But the Irish stable hand, the housemaid, the formidable housekeeper, the Duke himself, and other Irish townspeople, some of whom lost family to English gunshots during the War of Independence, go freely about their business in and around the great house. Soon suspicions about the guests’ true identities percolate, a dangerous boredom sets in for the princesses, and, within and without Clonmillis acreage, passions as well as stakes rise. Benjamin Black, who has good information that the princesses were indeed in Ireland for a time during the Blitz, draws readers into a novel as fascinating as the nascent career of Miss Nashe, as tender as the homesickness of the sisters, as intriguing as Irish-English relations during WWII, and as suspenseful and ultimately action-packed as war itself.

Frederick Montgomery, irlandese, trentottenne, senza problemi né pensieri, persegue insieme a una moglie bella e sconvolgente il sogno di un'eterna infanzia panica e assolata in qualche isola del Mediterraneo. Ma all'improvviso un prestito che aveva richiesto quasi per gioco, e che non è in grado di restituire, lo costringe a tornare in patria per procurarsi il denaro. È questa l'occasione che mette in moto un'inesorabile macchina narrativa: le tappe del ritorno a casa diventano le stazioni di un viaggio nel ricordo, e interi periodi del passato del protagonista tornano in vita, grazie all'attraversamento di una strada, a un incontro nel pub, al soggiorno nella casa dell'infanzia, alla visita di una dimora patrizia. La blanda odissea di Frederick scivola inesorabile verso la catastrofe, che si manifesta sotto le spoglie gentili di un quadro olandese del Seicento, Ritratto di donna con guanti. Frederick lo scorge nella villa palladiana di un amico di famiglia, e ne resta folgorato. Ma l'apparizione lo conduce, per ragioni imperscrutabili, fino al delitto che costituisce il punto focale del libro. Perché "La spiegazione dei fatti" è la deposizione che Frederick scrive in carcere nell'attesa del processo.

El presente volumen recoge las novelas que componen la Trilogía Cleave, uno de los proyectos más ambiciosos y logrados del Premio Príncipe de Asturias de las Letras John Banville. Eclipse nos presenta al actor Alexander Cleave, regresado al hogar de su infancia para recuperarse de una crisis nerviosa. Allí, dos nuevos inquilinos se unen a una avalancha de recuerdos perturbadores para obligarle a afrontar el caos de su vida. Imposturas se abre cuando Axel Vander recibe una carta misteriosa y viaja a Turín para encontrarse con su autora. Así, nublado por la edad y el alcohol e incapaz de distinguir entre realidad y ficción, se enfrentará cara a cara con Cass Cleave, la mujer que tiene el poder de desenmascararlo. El ciclo se cierra con Antigua luz , dondeAlexander Clave recuerda su fugaz e intenso primer amor. Un rodaje le llevará a intimar con una joven actriz cuya vida se ha asomado al abismo y al inesperado hallazgo de respuestas acerca del destino de las mujeres que marcaron a fuego su vida. La crítica ha dicho... «Hipnótica. Banville pone de manifiesto la vigente relevancia de términos como arte y obra maestra.» The New York Times Book Review Sobre el autor... «Banville logra algo que se le achaca y agradece a partes iguales: reproducir el estilo del maestro [Henry James], ese estilo preciso y audaz que es también el símbolo del escritor irlandés.» Andrés Seoane, El Cultural

Morrow ist kein unbeschriebenes Blatt. Er hat im Gefängnis gesessen, war gewalttätig, hat Frau und Kinder verloren. Nun hat er seinen Namen geändert, wie schon häufiger. Geldsorgen hat er keine mehr seit ihm Tante Corky ihr gesamtes Vermögen hinterlassen, nachdem er sie in den letzten Wochen bei sich aufgenommen hatte. Tante Corky war nicht seine richtige Tante, und Morrow weiß nicht, wer sie wirklich war, welche ihrer Geschichten der Wahrheit entsprechen. Doch eigentlich drehen sich seine Gedanken nur um seine Geliebte A., die er eines Tages kennen gelernt hatte, die ihn mitnahm in Mordens Haus. Eine Frau, der er mit jeder Faser verfiel, und deren Geheimnis er noch imer nicht zu lüften vermag. Morden hatte ihn in dieses Haus geholt, um Gutachten abzugeben über einige Bilder niederländischer Maler zu klassifizieren. Bilder, die gestohlen waren, wie er später erfährt. Morrow wird in einen Sumpf hineingezogen, aus dem er sich nicht befreien kann. Jetzt, da alles zu spät ist, versucht er zu rekapitulieren, was passiert ist. Und er sucht weiter nach A.. »Schreib mir«, hatte sie ihm beim Abschied gesagt, ohne eine Adresse zu hinterlassen. Und Morrow schreibt.

Una de las primeras novelas del Man Booker Prize y Príncipe de Asturias de las Letras John Banville, en la que indaga sobre la memoria, la familia y el fin de la inocencia. Novela galardonada con el Allied Irish Bank's Prize y el Irish Arts Council Macaulay Fellowship. « Existo, luego pienso. Eso parece innegable. En esta casa desmadrada dedico las noches a devanar mis recuerdos. » Cuando Gabriel Godkin regresa a Birchwood tras varios años, la gran casa familiar no es más que una propiedad ruinosa con habitantes enajenados. Hurgando en los recuerdos, rememora sus primeras experiencias de amor y de pérdida, pero los desastres se suceden y el joven decide huir con un circo ambulante para buscar a su hermana gemela, desaparecida tiempo atrás. Pronto descubrirá que el hambre y el malestar acechan el campo y que Irlanda también está arruinada. La crítica ha dicho sobre la obra... « Regreso a Birchwood representa un punto de inflexión en la literatura irlandesa contemporánea: es una novela en la que la historia se convierte en una divertida comedia negra repleta de alborotos rurales y de personajes góticos, y un sentido de desconcierto hacia la naturaleza del universo llena sus páginas.» Colm Tóibín « Birchwood es una de las más deslumbrantes hazañas de la literatura irlandesa en lo que va de siglo.» Seamus Deane « Regreso a Birchwood cuenta la vuelta de Gabriel Godkin a casa, bajo ese pretexto la novela reflexiona sobre los recuerdos, la distorsión de los mismos y la vida, el amor y la pérdida; de los recuerdos como reflejos de la luz bajo el agua en movimiento. [...] Elegancia, sutileza, profundidad, poesía y un tempo único en John Banville.» Huffington Post «Una divertida comedia negra repleta de personajes góticos.» Miren Artetxe, Gara Zazpika Sobre el autor... «El mejor escritor en activo en su idioma y, si hay justicia, Nobel cercano... Pericia y elegancia... Leemos a Banville para recordar qué era eso de leer.» Rodrigo Fresán, ABCultural «El más respetado de los escritores irlandeses, el mayor estilista en lengua inglesa.» Elena Hevia, El Periódico de Cataluña «John Banville, recurrente candidato al Nobel, se mueve en terrenos proustianos y nabokovianos armado con un arma definitiva: el estilo.» Nadal Suau, El Cultural «No hay truco que valga. Banville es puro arte.» Inés Martín Rodrigo, ABC «A las palabras, John Banville, autor insólito, sugerente, les saca brillo.» Jesús Ruiz Mantilla, El País «La grandeza de Banville reside en su prosa límpida, armada frase a frase con maneras de orfebre.» Javier Aparicio Maydeu, Babelia «Solo unos pocos escritores son auténticos estilistas, capaces de encandilar al lector con palabras mágicas. Entre estos pocos bendecidos, en diferentes modos, se encuentran Fitzgerald, Updike, Styron, Capote y Chandler. Y también el novelista irlandés John Banville es miembro de la fraternidad.» Washington Post Review «Lo que define y deleita es la prosa y voz narrativa de Banville: acaso la mejor y más exquisita entre los escritores británicos en activo.» Rodrigo Fresán, Vanity Fair

Oliver Otway Orme è un pittore di una certa fama, con un segreto che lo accompagna fin dall’infanzia: ha una mania della quale non riesce a vergognarsi, quella di rubare piccoli oggetti. Quasi a sfidare la sorte, che finora gli ha sempre evitato di essere scoperto, questa volta ha commesso un furto che potrebbe minare l’equilibrio della sua vita. Ha infatti «rubato» una donna non sua, la moglie di quello che era, forse, il suo migliore amico, che ignaro si rivolge a lui in cerca di conforto. Temendo di essere smascherato, Oliver fugge da tutto, non solo dall’amante, una donna in fondo scialba per cui nutre un sentimento ambiguo, ma soprattutto dalla moglie, la bella e algida Gloria. Spera in realtà che sia lei a ritrovarlo e a liberarlo da un esilio autoimposto, superando la distanza che un grande dolore ha creato tra loro. Segregato nella sua casa natale, dove tutto lo riporta all’infanzia, Oliver è costretto a confrontarsi con domande che lo angosciano, con la verità e la menzogna dei suoi legami più profondi, e con i demoni della vocazione artistica che sembra averlo abbandonato.

Ποια η διαφορά ανάμεσα στη μνήμη και την επινόηση; Αυτό το ερώτημα στοιχειώνει τον Αλεξάντερ Κλιβ, έναν ηθοποιό του θεάτρου στο γέρμα της σταδιοδρομίας και της ζωής του, καθώς ανασκαλεύει τις αναμνήσεις του πρώτου –και ίσως μοναδικού του– έρωτα (εκείνος, δεκαπέντε, εκείνη είκοσι χρόνια μεγαλύτερη και μάλιστα μητέρα του καλύτερού του φίλου) και σκέφτεται την κόρη του που ο χαμός της οφείλεται σε μια τρέλα όχι μόνο του νου αλλά και της καρδιάς. Όταν η καριέρα του αναβιώνει αναπάντεχα χάρη σ’ έναν κινηματογραφικό ρόλο που ανεξήγητα του προτείνουν, η νεαρή, διάσημη κι ευάλωτη συμπρωταγωνίστριά του, άθελά της, του δίνει την ευκαιρία να δει με επώδυνη διαύγεια το «χάσμα που ανοίγεται πάντα ανάμεσα στην πράξη και την ενθύμησή της». Το Αρχαίο φως, γραμμένο με τον εξαίσιο λυρισμό και το υποχθόνιο χιούμορ που τόσο χαρακτηρίζουν την πρόζα του Μπάνβιλ, πραγματεύεται τα θέματα της αγάπης και της απώλειας, καθώς και το πώς η επινόηση διαμορφώνει τη μνήμη μας – άρα και το παρόν μας. Οι κριτικοί το χαρακτήρισαν ισάξιο της Θάλασσας, του γνωστότερου έργου του σπουδαίου Ιρλανδού συγγραφέα. «Από την Ιρλανδία της δεκαετίας του 1950 στο σήμερα, με μια ενδιάμεση στάση σ’ ένα χιονισμένο ψαροχώρι του ιταλικού νότου… Ο Τζων Μπάνβιλ συμπλέκει τρεις διαφορετικές περιόδους της ζωής ενός ηλικιωμένου ηθοποιού για να δημιουργήσει μια εξαίσιας αφηγηματικής ομορφιάς σπουδή πάνω στον έρωτα, την απώλεια και το θάνατο. Η κριτική επιτροπή της Στοκχόλμης πρέπει να σηκώσει πάση θυσία το τηλέφωνο!» ―Financial Times «Ο Μπάνβιλ, άξιος διάδοχος του Ναμπόκοφ, αναδεικνύει με τρόπο μοναδικό το πνεύμα της εφηβείας, τη λαχτάρα του νεανικού κορμιού για ερωτική εμπειρία, το θόλωμα ανάμεσα στη σεξουαλικότητα και το συναίσθημα… Η πλούσια από ποιητικές εικόνες πρόζα του χαρίζει στον αναγνώστη την αίσθηση πως γλιστράει αρχοντικά σε μια λίμνη από σοκολάτα που τη γεύεται αργά και άκρως απολαυστικά». ―The Independent «Το Αρχαίο φως μαγεύει τα μάτια και το νου… Πρόκειται για ένα έργο γραμμένο με απαράμιλλη μαεστρία… Η ασυναγώνιστη πένα του Μπάνβιλ συλλαμβάνει την κάθε στιγμή με ζωγραφική ακρίβεια». ―The Scotsman «Ένας κόσμος όπου το παρελθόν είναι πιο αληθοφανές από το παρόν, και οι νεκροί πιο ζωντανοί και από τους ζωντανούς ακόμη… Ένα εξαιρετικό, αλησμόνητο βιβλίο!» ―The Sunday Telegraph «Εξίσου υπέροχο με τη Θάλασσα που του χάρισε το Man Booker 2005… Ο Μπάνβιλ αποδεικνύει ξανά και ξανά μες στις σελίδες αυτού του βιβλίου πώς μπορεί ένας συγγραφέας να αποδίδει αυτούσια την αληθινή υφή του έρωτα δίχως να καταφεύγει σε ευτελή διεγερτικά τερτίπια. Του αξίζει να πουλήσει δέκα φορές περισσότερα αντίτυπα από τιςΠενήντα αποχρώσεις του γκρί!» ―Sunday Express

Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe returns in The Black-Eyed Blonde—also published as Marlowe as by John Banville—the basis for the major motion picture starring Liam Neeson as the iconic detective. "Somewhere Raymond Chandler is smiling . . . I loved this book. It was like having an old friend, one you assumed was dead, walk into the room." —Stephen King "It was one of those Tuesday afternoons in summer when you wonder if the earth has stopped revolving." The streets of Bay City, California, in the early 1950s are as mean as they get. Marlowe is as restless and lonely as ever, and the private eye business is a little slow. Then a new client is shown in: blond, beautiful, and expensively dressed, she wants Marlowe to find her former lover. Almost immediately, Marlowe discovers that the man's disappearance is merely the first in a series of bewildering events. Soon he is tangling with one of Bay City's richest and most ruthless families—and developing a singular appreciation for how far they will go to protect their fortune. “It’s vintage L.A., toots: The hot summer, rain on the asphalt, the woman with the lipstick, cigarette ash and alienation, V8 coupes, tough guys, snub-nosed pistols, the ice melting in the bourbon . . . . The results are Chandleresque, sure, but you can see Banville’s sense of fun.” —The Washington Post

John Banville, nato in Irlanda nel 1945, è uno dei più grandi romanzieri contemporanei. Amatissimo dalla critica (solo per fare un esempio, nel 2014 Pietro Citati sul Corriere della Sera ha definito il suo L’intoccabile "un romanzo straordinario: certo il più bello degli ultimi quarant'anni" per "la vastità, la ricchezza, il terribile riso"), Banville nel corso della sua carriera ha vinto i premi più prestigiosi, fra cui il Booker Prize per Il Mare, il Premio Franz Kafka, il Premio Nonino, l’Irish Book Awards, l’European Literary Award, l’Irish PEN Award e il Premio Principe delle Asturie per la sua opera. Diversi critici e giornalisti lo considerano, con Philip Roth e Haruki Murakami, come uno dei possibili vincitori del prossimo Premio Nobel per la Letteratura. Banville è conosciuto per la sua prosa precisa e fredda, caratterizzata da un'inventiva Nabokoviana, e per il suo umorismo nero. Fra le sue opere, anche una serie di “romanzi gialli” di altissima qualità, ambientati nella Dublino anni '50, che hanno come protagonista l'anatomopatologo Quirke. Dai romanzi di Quirke la BBC e RTÉ hanno tratto una serie TV nel 2014. «Billy Gray era il mio migliore amico e io mi innamorai di sua madre.» Alexander Cleave, anziano attore ormai in declino, viene inaspettatamente scelto come protagonista di un film intitolato L’uomo con la maschera, basato sulla biografia di un uomo che non era quello che diceva di essere. E durante le riprese, in un mobile gioco di specchi, si trova a rievocare l’esaltante storia vissuta da quindicenne, in una piccola città irlandese negli anni Cinquanta: gli incontri proibiti in un casolare appena fuori città; gli impeti di passione sul sedile posteriore dell’auto di Mrs Gray, nei mattini assolati o nei pomeriggi tempestosi; le bugie, i sotterfugi, le gelosie, i timori, le calde lacrime e le esplosioni di gioia. Ricordi che il caleidoscopio della memoria mescola al sogno, tingendoli di colori diversi, di volta in volta bui o luminosi, mentre il fantasma della figlia, scomparsa dieci anni prima in circostanze misteriose, si fa strada ogni giorno di più. Passato e presente convergono, nel tentativo di dare un senso all’iniziazione amorosa dell’adolescente, ma anche alla sofferenza del padre. Il romanzo di un’esperienza unica, quasi un rovescio di Lolita, raccontata con una lingua inventiva, sinuosa e insinuante, che accarezza ed emoziona. «Un maestro la cui prosa regala un piacere continuo e quasi fisico.» Martin Amis «Banville è capace di una scrittura limpida e scorrevolmente pericolosa, come una lama, e possiede un talento quasi feroce nel leggere l’anima degli uomini.» Don DeLillo

John Banville, nato in Irlanda nel 1945, è uno dei più grandi romanzieri contemporanei. Amatissimo dalla critica (solo per fare un esempio, nel 2014 Pietro Citati sul Corriere della Sera ha definito il suo L’intoccabile "un romanzo straordinario: certo il più bello degli ultimi quarant'anni" per "la vastità, la ricchezza, il terribile riso"), Banville nel corso della sua carriera ha vinto i premi più prestigiosi, fra cui il Booker Prize per Il Mare, il Premio Franz Kafka, il Premio Nonino, l’Irish Book Awards, l’European Literary Award, l’Irish PEN Award e il Premio Principe delle Asturie per la sua opera. Diversi critici e giornalisti lo considerano, con Philip Roth e Haruki Murakami, come uno dei possibili vincitori del prossimo Premio Nobel per la Letteratura. Banville è conosciuto per la sua prosa precisa e fredda, caratterizzata da un'inventiva Nabokoviana, e per il suo umorismo nero. Fra le sue opere, anche una serie di “romanzi gialli” di altissima qualità, ambientati nella Dublino anni '50, che hanno come protagonista l'anatomopatologo Quirke. Dai romanzi di Quirke la BBC e RTÉ hanno tratto una serie TV nel 2014. John Glass è un giornalista di tutto rispetto: irlandese, da poco trapiantato a New York, ha un passato glorioso da corrispondente in prima linea (piazza Tienanmen, il conflitto nordirlandese, l’Intifada) e una reputazione da difendere. Ma in un momento di debolezza, vinto dalle pressioni famigliari e dalle lusinghe di un compenso da un milione di dollari, accetta di scrivere la biografia di William «Big Bill» Mulholland, magnate delle telecomunicazioni dai trascorsi non proprio immacolati ed ex agente della cia. Le ricerche per il libro vengono però presto turbate da un omicidio... Fin dove si è spinto Glass? E perché viene ricattato? Inizia così un giallo sofisticato, un’indagine che porterà il giornalista a scavare nel torbido passato della famiglia della moglie. E a scoprire che il silenzio non può essere comprato, nemmeno da una delle dinastie più influenti di New York... «Un maestro la cui prosa regala un piacere continuo e quasi fisico.» Martin Amis «Banville è un vero maestro, un artista capace di un controllo totale della sua arte.» The Times

The Man Booker Prize-winning author of The Sea gives us a brilliant novel about an actor in the twilight of his life and his career: “a devastating account of a boy’s sexual awakening and the loss of his childhood…. Seamless [and] profound ... An unsettling and beautiful work.” —Wall Street Journal Is there a difference between memory and invention? That is the question that haunts Alexander Cleave as he reflects on his first, and perhaps only, love—an underage affair with his best friend’s mother. When his stunted acting career is suddenly, inexplicably revived with a movie role playing a man who may not be who he claims, his young leading lady—famous and fragile—unwittingly gives him the opportunity to see, with startling clarity, the gap between the things he has done and the way he recalls them. Profoundly moving, Ancient Light is written with the depth of character, clarifying lyricism, and heart-wrenching humor that mark all of Man Booker Prize-winning author John Banville’s extraordinary works.

A bizarre suicide leads to a scandal and then still more blood, as one of our most brilliant crime novelists reveals a world where money and sex trump everything It's a fine day for a sail, and Victor Delahaye, one of Ireland's most successful businessmen, takes his boat far out to sea. With him is his partner's son—who becomes the sole witness when Delahaye produces a pistol, points it at his own chest, and fires. This mysterious death immediately engages the attention of Detective Inspector Hackett, who in turn calls upon the services of his sometime partner Quirke, consultant pathologist at the Hospital of the Holy Family. The stakes are high: Delahaye's prominence in business circles means that Hackett and Quirke must proceed very carefully. Among others, they interview Mona Delahaye, the dead man's young and very beautiful wife; James and Jonas Delahaye, his identical twin sons; and Jack Clancy, his ambitious, womanizing partner. But then a second death occurs, this one even more shocking than the first, and quickly it becomes apparent that a terrible secret threatens to destroy the lives and reputations of several members of Dublin's elite. Why did Victor Delahaye kill himself, and who is intent upon wreaking vengeance on so many of those who knew him?

MAN BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST • From the Booker Prize winner of The Sea comes “an astonishing, disturbing little novel that might have been coughed up from hell" (The New York Times Book Review) about the dark confession of an improbable murderer. “Ireland’s finest contemporary novelist.” —The Economist Freddie Montgomery is a highly cultured man, a husband and father living the life of a dissolute exile on a Mediterranean island. When a debt comes due and his wife and child are held as collateral, he returns to Ireland to secure funds. That pursuit leads to murder. And here is his attempt to present evidence, not of his innocence, but of his life, of the events that lead to the murder he committed because he could. Like a hero out of Nabokov or Camus, Montgomery is a chillingly articulate, self-aware, and amoral being, whose humanity is painfully on display.

El Lémur está destinado a convertirse en un clásico, con todos los ingredientes del género policíaco: chantaje, adulterio, asesinato y traición. Premio Príncipe de Asturias de las Letras 2014 a John Banville por «su inteligente, honda y original creación novelesca» y a su «otro yo, Benjamin Black, autor de turbadoras y críticas novelas policíacas.» John Glass ha abandonado su carrera como periodista para escribir una biografía autorizada de su suegro, el magnate de la comunicación y antiguo agente de la CIA, Gran Bill Mulholland. Trabaja en un gran despacho en Manhattan y vuelve a casa (la mayoría de las noches) a los brazos de su rica y bella mujer... Cuando decide contratar los servicios de un joven e insolente investigador, de asombroso parecido con un lémur, los turbios secretos de su familia política y, quizás, los suyos propios, amenazan con salir a la luz. Toda la cómoda existencia de Glass se tambalea, y acaba de derrumbarse con la muerte del Lémur: ¿quién lo mató?, ¿por qué?, ¿qué sabe?, ¿qué peligros acechan? La crítica ha dicho... «El escritor de lengua inglesa más inteligente, el estilista más elegante.» George Steiner «Una narrativa peligrosa, clara y fluida.» Don Delillo «John Banville (Benjamin Black) es un maestro y su prosa, un deleite incesante.» Martin Amis «Un brillante thriller contemporáneo que muestra a Benjamin Black (John Banville) e su mejor momento.» Foyles Library «La ficción contemporánea no tiene nada mejor... Los libros de John Banville rebosan vida y humor.» The New York Times Books Review «Publicada inicialmente por capítulos en The New York Times Magazine, esta novela negra exhibe el cáustico ingenio, marca del autor, sus compactas tramas y unos personajes viciados y atractivos.» Publishers Weekly «Banville es ese extraño escritor capaz de atrapar los cinco sentido en una oración enunciativa.» The Wall Street Journal

The first of John Banville’s Cleave Trilogy, concerning father and daughter Alexander and Cass Cleave, Eclipse is a lyrical exploration of memory, family and identity. Alexander Cleave, actor, has left his career and his family behind and banished himself to his childhood home. He wants to retire from life, but finds this impossible in a house brimming with presences, some ghostly, some undeniably human. Memories and anxiety for the future, and more particularly for his beloved but troubled daughter, conspire to distract him from his dreaming retirement. This humane and beautifully written story tells the tragic tale of a man, intelligent, preposterous and vulnerable, who in attempting to bring the performance to a close finds himself travelling inevitably towards a devastating denouement. ‘This unsparing, compassionate, humane book demonstrates again that Banville is in a class of his own’ – The Spectator Now part of the Picador Collection, a series showcasing the very best of modern literature.

One of The Chicago Tribune's Best Reads of 2011 One of Dublin's most powerful men meets a violent end— and an acknowledged master of crime fiction delivers his most gripping novel yet On a sweltering summer afternoon, newspaper tycoon Richard Jewell—known to his many enemies as Diamond Dick—is discovered with his head blown off by a shotgun blast. But is it suicide or murder? For help with the investigation, Detective Inspector Hackett calls in his old friend Quirke, who has unusual access to Dublin's elite. Jewell's coolly elegant French wife, Françoise, seems less than shocked by her husband's death. But Dannie, Jewell's high-strung sister, is devastated, and Quirke is surprised to learn that in her grief she has turned to an unexpected friend: David Sinclair, Quirke's ambitious assistant in the pathology lab at the Hospital of the Holy Family. Further, Sinclair has been seeing Quirke's fractious daughter Phoebe, and an unlikely romance is blossoming between the two. As a record heat wave envelops the city and the secret deals underpinning Diamond Dick's empire begin to be revealed, Quirke and Hackett find themselves caught up in a dark web of intrigue and violence that threatens to end in disaster. Tightly plotted and gorgeously written, A Death in Summer proves to the brilliant but sometimes reckless Quirke that in a city where old money and the right bloodlines rule, he is by no means safe from mortal danger.

From the Booker Prize-winning author of The Sea comes a novel that is at once a gloriously earthy romp and a wise look at the terrible, wonderful plight of being human. “One of the great living masters of English-language prose. The Infinities is a dazzling example of that mastery.” —Los Angeles Times On a languid midsummer’s day in the countryside, the Godley family gathers at the bedside of Adam, a renowned mathematician and their patriarch. But they are not alone in their vigil. Around them hovers a clan of mischievous immortals—Zeus, Pan, and Hermes among them—who begin to stir up trouble for the Godleys, to sometimes wildly unintended effect.

Quirke—the hard-drinking, insatiably curious Dublin pathologist—is back, and he's determined to find his daughter's best friend, a well-connected young doctor April Latimer has vanished. A junior doctor at a local hospital, she is something of a scandal in the conservative and highly patriarchal society of 1950s Dublin. Though her family is one of the most respected in the city, she is known for being independent-minded; her taste in men, for instance, is decidedly unconventional. Now April has disappeared, and her friend Phoebe Griffin suspects the worst. Frantic, Phoebe seeks out Quirke, her brilliant but erratic father, and asks him for help. Sober again after intensive treatment for alcoholism, Quirke enlists his old sparring partner, Detective Inspector Hackett, in the search for the missing young woman. In their separate ways the two men follow April's trail through some of the darker byways of the city to uncover crucial information on her whereabouts. And as Quirke becomes deeply involved in April's murky story, he encounters complicated and ugly truths about family savagery, Catholic ruthlessness, and race hatred. Both an absorbing crime novel and a brilliant portrait of the difficult and relentless love between a father and his daughter, this is Benjamin Black at his sparkling best.