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Orfeo

By Richard Powers
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Brief Description
From the Booker-shortlisted author of The Overstory and Bewilderment Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2014 'A magnificent and moving novel' - Los Angeles Times Seventy-year-old avant-garde composer Peter Els opens the door one evening to find the police on his doorstep. His home microbiology lab... Read More
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From the Booker-shortlisted author of The Overstory and Bewilderment

Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2014

'A magnificent and moving novel' - Los Angeles Times

Seventy-year-old avant-garde composer Peter Els opens the door one evening to find the police on his doorstep. His home microbiology lab - where he is conducting the latest experiment in his lifelong attempt to find musical patterns in surprising places - has aroused the suspicions of Homeland Security.

Panicked by the raid, Els turns fugitive, earning him the moniker 'Bioterrorist Bach'. He hatches a daring plan to transform this disastrous collision with the security state into an unforgettable work of art that will reawaken its audience to the sounds all around it.

A gripping escape narrative filled with lyrical wonder, Orfeo is both a portrait of a creative, obsessive man, and a reflection on finding melodies in everyday life.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781804951767

Publisher: Cornerstone

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 12 June 2025

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Penguin (Cornerstone)

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 25.0mm

Width: 130.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 267g

Pages: 384

Collections

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About the Author

Richard Powers has published fourteen novels. He is a MacArthur Fellow and received the National Book Award. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Overstory. He lives in the Great Smoky Mountains.

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