The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet: Longlisted for the Booker Prize

It's an inspired setting for an examination of shifting cultures and beliefs... This is a vastly entertaining historical novel, giving the reader a glimpse into a world we know so little of and charting a fascinating period of history. - Sydney Morning Herald He is one of those writers whose skill lies in the creation of novels in which the more traditional armature of the novelist character, plot, style are subordinated to the meaning of the whole... Like Cloud Atlas, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet seeks to explore a series of questions about imperialism and modernity, the encounters between societies are also inevitably encounters between individuals. - The Australian Mitchell is a master of pace and suspense; sudden reversals of fortune, shocking revelations and moments of bawdy comedy or ragged horror are delivered with a brio worthy of Dickens...it s a fluent and daring novel. - The Age This is a marvellously wrought novel, full of fully formed characters and the kind of detail that allows you to sink deep into its imaginary world. I was sorry when I finished...brilliant - Herald Sun You ll cry on the last page. Sigh. Partly because of the exquisite tragedy of it all. Partly because it s over. If you enjoy military intrigue, maritime conquests, brilliant escapes or helpless romance, you ll devour it. You ll love the wonderfully unheroic hero and the sheet artistry of a sharply skilled author...we re now devoted Mitchell fans. - Grazia Of all the younger male British literary novelists, Mitchell has the most range and sheer technical ability... The novel twists and turns in an intricate game of consequences. - The Sunday Age Mitchell's depiction of a society teetering on the brink of irresistible change will keep the pages turning. The - The Daily Telegraph The Thousand Autumns ... initially looks far more like a regular, linear historical novel, painstakingly researched and vividly imagined... As the novel goes on it becomes less like a coherent linear history and more like a series of brilliantly realised, genre-specific, blockbuster scenes held together by its thin trail of story. - Adelaide Advertiser