Six lives. One amazing adventure. The highly acclaimed novel of mindbending imagination and scope by the Booker-shortlisted author.

'An impeccable dance of genres ... an elegiac, radiant festival of prescience, meditation and entertainment.' -- The Times 'His wildest ride yet ... a singular achievement, from an author of extraordinary ambition and skill' -- Matt Thorne, Independent on Sunday 'It knits together science fiction, political thriller and historical pastiche with musical virtuosity and linguistic exuberance: there won't be a bigger, bolder novel this year.' -- Guardian 'Mitchell's storytelling in CLOUD ATLAS is of the best. I was, appropriately, captivated.' -- Lawrence Norfolk, Independent 'David Mitchell entices his readers onto a rollercoaster, and at first they wonder if they want to get off. Then - at least in my case - they can't bear the journey to end.' -- AS Byatt, Guardian 'The way Mitchell inhabits the different voices of the novel is close to miraculous ... No other British novelist, to my mind, combines such a darkly futuristic intelligence with such polyphonic ease.' -- Robert MacFarlane, The Sunday Times 'Gloriously inventive and dazzlingly virtuosic' -- Suzi Feay, Independent on Sunday

David Mitchell's first novel, GHOSTWRITTEN, was published in 1999, when it won the Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award. His second, NUMBER9DREAM, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize as well as the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and in 2003 he was chosen as one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists. CLOUD ATLAS, his third novel, won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, the South Bank Show Literature Prize, and the Best Literary Fiction and Richard & Judy Best Read of the Year categories in the British Book Awards, as well as being shortlisted for a further six awards including the Man Booker Prize and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize. It was followed by BLACK SWAN GREEN, which was shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award and longlisted for the Man Booker. His latest novel, THE THOUSAND AUTUMNS OF JACOB DE ZOET, was published in 2010. Born in 1969, David Mitchell grew up in Worcestershire. After graduating from Kent University, he spent several years teaching in Japan, and now lives in Ireland with his wife and two children.