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The Great When

A Long London Novel
By Alan Moore
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3.61 goodreads logo

Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.

Check link for latest rating. ( 2,123 ratings, 499 reviews)
Brief Description
A propulsive tour through a fantastical London, where history and myth collide, murder stalks the streets and the mundane becomes very magical indeed… The year is 1949, the city London. Amidst the smog of the capital is Dennis Knuckleyard, a hapless eighteen-year-old employed by a second-hand... Read More
Format: Hardback
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A dark and beguiling tour through the streets of London – fictional and real – by a legend of modern fantasy

A dark and beguiling tour through the streets of London – fictional and real – by a legend of modern fantasy

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

A propulsive tour through a fantastical London, where history and myth collide, murder stalks the streets and the mundane becomes very magical indeed…

The year is 1949, the city London. Amidst the smog of the capital is Dennis Knuckleyard, a hapless eighteen-year-old employed by a second-hand bookshop. One day, on an errand to acquire books for sale, Dennis discovers a novel that simply does not exist. It is a fictitious book, a figment from another novel. Yet it is physically there in his hands. How?

Dennis has stumbled on a book from the Great When, a magical version of London beyond time and space, where reality blurs with fiction and concepts such as Crime and Poetry are incarnated as wondrous, terrible beings. But this other, magical London must remain a secret: if Dennis cannot find a way to return this book to where it belongs, he risks bizarre and disastrous repercussions, such as his body being turned inside out (or worse).

So begins a journey delving deep into the city’s occult underbelly and tarrying with an eccentric cast of sorcerers, gangsters, and murderers – some from legend, some all too real, and all with plans of their own. Soon, Dennis finds himself at the centre of an explosive series of events that may alter and endanger both Londons forever.

Thrilling, lyrical and sparkling with dark humour, The Great When is the first book in a new series by Sunday Times-bestseller and icon, Alan Moore.

'A breathless time-travelling classic. Savage, humane, comic, terrifying' Iain Sinclair

‘Brilliant and so powerfully imaginative’ Adam Curtis

'A weird book and a complete joy' Mariana Enríquez

‘A masterful step from one of our very best, uncompromising storytellers; Moore peels back the layers of London and reveals not only the history we know, but the histories that could have been, and, underneath it all, both the dark and beautiful truths about who we are as a nation.’ Heather Parry

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781526643223

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 01 October 2024

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 34.0mm

Width: 154.0mm

Height: 238.0mm

Weight: 540g

Pages: 336

Collections

Alan Moore Arts & Culture Fantasy Fiction General Fiction Historical Fantasy Horror & Supernatural Sci-Fi & Fantasy

About the Author

Alan Moore is an English writer widely regarded as the best and most influential writer in the history of comics. His seminal works include From Hell and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. He is also the author of the bestselling Jerusalem. He was born in Northampton, and has lived there ever since.

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