The Chimes

by Anna Smaill Narrated by Luke Kempner

Overview

A Bookseller Best Debut of 2015

One to Watch 2015 Huffington Post

An Amazon Rising Star

'The Chimes is a remarkable debut. It's inventive, beautifully written, and completely absorbing. I highly recommend it.' Kevin Powers, author of The Yellow Birds

A mind-expanding literary debut composed of memory, music and imagination.

A boy stands on the roadside on his way to London, alone in the rain.

No memories, beyond what he can hold in his hands at any given moment.

No directions, as written words have long since been forbidden.

No parents - just a melody that tugs at him, a thread to follow. A song that says if he can just get to the capital, he may find some answers about what happened to them.

The world around Simon sings, each movement a pulse of rhythm, each object weaving its own melody, music ringing in every drop of air.

Welcome to the world of The Chimes. Here, life is orchestrated by a vast musical instrument that renders people unable to form new memories. The past is a mystery, each new day feels the same as the last, and before is blasphony.

But slowly, inexplicably, Simon is beginning to remember. He emerges from sleep each morning with a pricking feeling, and sense there is something he urgently has to do. In the city Simon meets Lucien, who has a gift for hearing, some secrets of his own, and a theory about the danger lurking in Simon's past.

A stunning debut composed of memory, music, love and freedom, The Chimes pulls you into a world that will captivate, enthral and inspire.

(P)2015 Hodder & Stoughton

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

WINNER OF THE 2016 WORLD FANTASY AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL AND NOMINATED FOR THE 2015 MAN BOOKER PRIZE

To call The Chimes striking is I dare say to underplay what might be the most distinctive debut of the decade.—Tor.com

SUPERB... intriguing, ambitious and strikingly written.—James Kidd, Independent on Sunday

The Chimes is a remarkable debut. It's inventive, beautifully written, and completely absorbing. I highly recommend it.—Kevin Powers, author of THE YELLOW BIRDS

A genuinely originalnovel that has all the tension of a well-told, gripping thriller, but which is elevated well above the ordinary by its shining, lyrical language. The author has created a believable, consistent and vivid world...—Clare Morrall

Cleverly orchestrated and poignantly conveyed throughout.—Guardian

The novel is hypnotic, melancholic and requires concentration, but it builds to an incredibly tense and emotionally satisfying climax that rewards all the effort.—Elle

Smaill is a former musician with a book of poetry already to her name. The Chimes has strong echoes of both these influences as we're taken on a strange and lyrical journey through a dystopian England . . . The intrinsic links between music and memory suffuse this dreamy narrative . . . the idiosyncratic world [that] Smaill has lovingly created using melodic and musical syntax - her narrative style brimming with invention and nuance.—The Big Issue

The pleasure lies in getting to grips with the rules of this eerie dystopia and the unusual vocabulary Smaill has minted to describe it.—Metro

Atmospheric, intensely-imagined strangeness—Daily Mail

Strangely compelling—Sainsbury’s Magazine

A dazzling debut piece of fantasy that marries great writing with compelling narrative. And the world Smaill has invented, where memory has been replaced by music and people cling to objects that link them to their pasts, is brilliantly imagined.... a serious book with serious talent behind it.—New Zealand Herald

Atmospheric, intensely-imagined strangeness—Daily Mail

Magical, tender, thought provoking and stunningly imaginative.—Lindsay Hawdon, author of JAKOB'S COLOURS

Dystopian fiction but not quite as we know it... Smaill's particular melodious inventiveness makes her story her own.—Independent

Anna Smail's ambition fiction debut is a strange, compelling tale; full of musical metaphors and striking imagery, it is wildly imaginative and challenging.—Choice Magazine

An exciting debut, a book full of rhythm, energy and melody... There's no doubt Smaill has created a distinctive and impressive debut, one that dares to create its own music.—The List

An enthralling read.—The Lady

lyrical debut—Sunday Express

This is a story that rivets us from the beginning but, for those wanting more, there are delicious depths that change an excellent story into an equally excellent thought provoking fable. As if that isn't enough, it also convinces us that Anna is a very clever lady. ... hugely compelling ... Oh yes, this is definitely a 'Wow!' book.—The Bookbag

For a story about music, The Chimes is a triumph on the printed page.

—SFX Magazine

Cleverly orchestrated—Guardian

Entrancingly poetic and engagingly plotted, this is a story that brims with heart and soul.—Kirkus reviews

Cleverly orchestrated—Guardian

Library Journal

★ 04/15/2016
After an apocalyptic event known as the Allbreaking, most survivors are left unable to hold on to long-term memories, instead centering their communication on music, which seems to help them remember. Simon has traveled from his home outside of London to the city after his mother's death, carrying his memory objects in an old canvas sack. While given instructions on whom to talk to in London, Simon has forgotten the details and is left wandering near the Thames. There he meets and falls in with a gang of metal pickers, led by Lucien. Though blind, Lucien hears and sings the melodies that keep his crew safe. He also senses that Simon's recall is special, and if he could only recollect enough, together they could change their world. The novel's purposefully confusing beginning mirrors Simon's bewilderment, and patient readers will be well rewarded as the reality of Simon's world swims into focus and the story suddenly becomes gripping and impossible to put down. VERDICT One of a kind, both in its dystopian landscape and use of gorgeous language throughout (including clever musical terms), this debut takes time to digest but is worth the effort. Fans of the eloquence and imagery of Jeff VanderMeer's "Southern Reach" trilogy and the spare desolation of Cormac McCarthy's The Road will adore this original work.—MM

Kirkus Reviews

2016-03-03
A melodic, immersive dystopian tale set in a London where writing is lost and song has replaced story. It's some time after the cataclysmic Allbreaking, and the powerful Order has set all to rights. Every evening now, their bells peal out a soothing chorus of harmony that overwhelms body and mind. Living in an eternal present, residents of Britain rely on the rituals of "bodymemory" and their private hoards of "objectmemories"—a muddy raincoat, a shard of plate—in order to cling to the slippery knowledge of who they are. In inventive language that perfectly captures the disrupted nature of this world, debut novelist Smaill introduces us to Simon, through whom we experience this richly realized future. Simon runs with a "pact" of fellow teens in the "under"—the dark tunnels and tracks leftover from when Britain had electricity. Guided by the pact leader, Lucien, whose musical gifts more than make up for his blindness, they scavenge in "thamesmuck" for nuggets of precious pale "mettle" to sell on the black market. Simon has settled into this life despite the unusual clarity with which he can visualize his past, which once included a family. But to Simon's great disturbance, Lucien starts asking him to share these stories of his past, in violation of all social codes. When Simon does begin to piece his memories together with Lucien's, they discover the horror of how this world of seeming harmony came to be. After the deft and engaging worldbuilding of the first half, the second half of the novel slips into a swift and simple quest narrative, but it's one plaited with an unexpected story of first love. As the novel reaches its crescendo, the poignancy of memory, with all its attendant pain and loss, faces down the dangers of a perfection built on ignorant bliss. Entrancingly poetic and engagingly plotted, this is a story that brims with heart and soul.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940159258397
Publisher:	Octopus Books
Publication date:	10/01/2015
Edition description:	Unabridged
Age Range:	8 - 11 Years

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