Richard Powers

'If you have children or will have children, if you know children or can remember being a child, dare to read Operation Wandering Soul ... it is bedtime reading for the future' USA TODAY'Powers' prose soars like the most magnificent of choirs' WASHINGTON POST'The most intellectually stimulating novelist at work in the English language today' DAILY TELEGRAPHIn the paediatrics ward of a public hospital, a group of sick children gather, their lives brightened only by the power of imagination. The surrogate parents of this group - Kraft, a tired, overworked surgical resident, and Espera, a dedicated therapist - are charged with prolonging their lives using storytelling and make-believe alone. Using the boundless reach of imagination, Operation Wandering Soul is a novel that celebrates the wonder of childhood. Both social indictment and emotional account of intimate needs, it asks how we might keep alive a little longer the enduring magic of childhood dreams.

'There is no contemporary American writer quite like Richard Powers ... It is rare to find a novel as intellectually and emotionally engaging as this' GUARDIAN'Formidable ... rewarding' SUNDAY TIMES'An astonishing performance' NEW YORK TIMESJonah, Ruth, and Joseph are the children of mixed-race parents who aspire to raise them beyond the constraints of time and identity, immersing them in a world of song. However, they cannot shield them from the realities of the outside world forever. Jonah, a talented young tenor, finds that the opera world remains preoccupied with his race. Ruth, rejecting classical music, disappears instead into a life dedicated to activism and a new relationship. Over the years, Joseph - the middle child, a pianist, and our narrator - struggles not only to stay connected to his siblings but also to carve out a future on his own. A powerful story of a tragedy of race in America, The Time of Our Singing is an enthralling, harrowing novel about the lives of choices of one family at the crossroads of identity.

'A love story of charm and substance, brimming over with ideas, yet anchored in emotional truth' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH'Powers has triumphantly restored ... the philosophical novel' OBSERVER'A heroic tour de force' NEW YORK TIMESIn 1957, brilliant biologist Stuart Ressler sets out to crack the genetic code. Yet his efforts are sidetracked by other, more complex codes - social, moral, musical, and spiritual - as he falls in love with a member of his research team. Years later, another young man and woman investigate a different mystery: why did the promising Ressler suddenly vanish from the world of science? Strand by strand, these two love stories intertwine in a double helix of desire in an enthralling tale about new love and the mysteries of science.

'Part of the joy of reading Powers over the years has been his capacity for revelation' Colson WhiteheadOn the west coast of America, virtual reality researchers race to complete the Cavern, a plain white room that can become a jungle, a painting or a vast Byzantine cathedral. Adie Klarpol, a disillusioned artist, is fascinated by this cutting-edge technology. In a war-torn city on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, an American teacher - Taimur Martin - is held hostage, chained to a radiator in an empty white room. What can possibly join two such remote places? Only the shared imagination, a room that these two people unwittingly build in common...'Spectacular... Riveting' New York Times

Read this thrilling and timely novel of the human soul from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Overstory. After many years of living abroad, a young writer returns to the United States to take up a position at his former college. There he encounters Philip Lentz, an outspoken neurologist intent on using computers to model the human brain. Lentz involves the writer in an outlandish and irresistible project - to train a computing system by reading a canonical list of Great Books. Through repeated tutorials, the machine grows gradually more worldly, until it demands to know its own age, sex, race and reason for existing.'An ingenious, ambitious, at times dizzily cerebral work... It soars and spins... The novel attains an aching, melancholy beauty' New York Times

‘A psychological thriller, a flawed love story, a study of authenticity in emotions, a commentary on America's relations with itself and the world, humanity and ecology... undoubtedly magnificent’ The TimesOn a winter night, Mark Schluter’s truck turns over in a near-fatal accident. His sister, Karin, returns reluctantly to their hometown to look after him. But when he finally awakes from his coma, Mark believes that Karin – who looks, acts, and sounds just like his sister – is really an identical impostor. Shattered by her brother’s behaviour, Karin contacts neuroscientist Dr Gerald Weber. But what Weber discovers in Mark begins to undermine even his own sense of self. Meanwhile, Mark, armed only with a note left by an anonymous witness, attempts to learn what really happened. The truth of that evening will change the lives of all three beyond recognition.

A new novel from the Booker-shortlisted author THE NEW NOVEL FROM THE PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING, TWICE BOOKER SHORTLISTED AUTHOR She had the ocean. And the ocean absorbed all her hope and excitement, all her panic and pain and love, into a place far larger than anything human. Four lives are drawn together in a sweeping, panoramic new novel from Richard Powers, showcasing the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Overstory at the height of his skills. Twelve-year-old Evie Beaulieu sinks to the bottom of a swimming pool in Montreal strapped to one of the world's first aqualungs. Ina Aroita grows up in naval bases across the Pacific with art as her only home. Two polar opposites at an elite Chicago high school bond over a three thousand- year-old board game; Rafi Young will get lost in literature, while Todd Keane's work will lead to a startling AI breakthrough. They meet on the history-scarred island of Makatea in French Polynesia, whose deposits of phosphorus once helped feed the world. Now the tiny atoll has been chosen for humanity's next adventure- a plan to send floating, autonomous cities out onto the open sea. But first, the island's residents must vote to green light the project or turn the seasteaders away. Set in the world's largest ocean, this awe-filled book explores that last wild place we have yet to colonize in a still-unfolding oceanic game, and interweaves beautiful writing, rich characterization, profound themes of technology and the environment, and a deep exploration of our shared humanity in a way only Richard Powers can. Praise for Richard Powers- 'Powers has extraordinary gifts as a writer' GUARDIAN 'Impressively precise in its scientific conjectures, Bewilderment is no less rich or wise in its emotionality' OBSERVER 'He composes some of the most beautiful sentences I've ever read. I'm in awe of his talent' OPRAH WINFREY 'It is impossible to deny the importance of Powers's message' SUNDAY TIMES 'Refreshing, original and moving' EVENING STANDARD

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERLONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2024THE POWERFUL NEW NOVEL FROM THE PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING AND BOOKER-SHORTLISTED AUTHOR OF THE OVERSTORY AND BEWILDERMENT'Is there anything Richard Powers cannot write? The world here is complete, seductive, and promising. The writing feels like the ocean. Vast, mysterious, deep and alive' PERCIVAL EVERETT'An extraordinarily immersive journey through lives linked in mysterious ways - gripping, alarming and uplifting' EMMA DONOGHUERafi and Todd are two polar opposites at an elite high school where they bond over a three-thousand-year-old board game. It sets them up for life: Rafi will get lost in literature, while Todd’s work will lead to a startling AI breakthrough. Elsewhere, Evie Beaulieu sinks to the bottom of a swimming pool in Montreal strapped to one of the world’s first aqualungs; Ina Aroita grows up in naval bases across the Pacific with art as her only home. All of these people meet on the history-scarred island of Makatea in French Polynesia, marked for humanity’s next great adventure: a plan to send floating, autonomous cities out into the open sea. As the seasteaders close in, how will Evie play the ever-unfolding oceanic game? Will Ina engage in acts of destruction? Todd and Rafi, now estranged, still find themselves in competition: Todd unravels while working on an idea to redraw the boundaries of human immortality, while Rafi and the residents must decide if they will greenlight the new project on their shores and change their home forever. Set in the world’s largest ocean, Playground explores that last wild place we have yet to colonize and interweaves profound themes of technology and the environment, and a deep exploration of our shared humanity in a way only Richard Powers can.‘Powers is a master of taking important topics of our times – from threats to our oceans and climate change to AI – and turning them into riveting and fiercely relevant books imbued with psychological insight and a deep awe for nature. This eloquent dance of the scientific and emotional makes him one of our finest story tellers. PLAYGROUND is brilliant, captivating and important – and the best book I’ve read this year’ ANDREA WULFMore praise for Richard Powers:'Powers has extraordinary gifts as a writer' GUARDIAN'Impressively precise in its scientific conjectures, Bewilderment is no less rich or wise in its emotionality' OBSERVER'He composes some of the most beautiful sentences I've ever read. I'm in awe of his talent' OPRAH WINFREY'It is impossible to deny the importance of Powers's message' SUNDAY TIMES'Refreshing, original and moving' EVENING STANDARD

Four lives are drawn together in a sweeping, panoramic new novel from Richard Powers, showcasing the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Overstory at the height of his skills. Twelve-year-old Evie Beaulieu sinks to the bottom of a swimming pool in Montreal strapped to one of the world's first aqualungs. Ina Aroita grows up on naval bases across the Pacific with art as her only home. Two polar opposites at an elite Chicago high school bond over a three-thousand-year-old board game; Rafi Young will get lost in literature, while Todd Keane's work will lead to a startling AI breakthrough. They meet on the history-scarred island of Makatea in French Polynesia, whose deposits of phosphorus once helped to feed the world. Now the tiny atoll has been chosen for humanity's next adventure: a plan to send floating, autonomous cities out onto the open sea. But first, the island's residents must vote to greenlight the project or turn the seasteaders away. Set in the world's largest ocean, this awe-filled book explores that last wild place we have yet to colonize in a still-unfolding oceanic game, and interweaves beautiful writing, rich characterization, profound themes of technology and the environment, and a deep exploration of our shared humanity in a way only Richard Powers can.

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERSHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2022FROM THE PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR‘Extraordinary’ New York Times‘Remarkable’ Observer‘Heartfelt’ GuardianTheo Byrne is a promising young scientist who has found a way to search for life on other planets dozens of light years away. He is also the widowed father of a most unusual nine-year-old. His son Robin is funny, loving and filled with plans. He thinks and feels deeply, adores animals and can spend hours painting elaborate pictures. But after a violent outburst from Robin at school, the strength of their close bond will be tested to its limits... What can a father do, when those around him refuse to understand his rare and troubled child? And how can he reveal to his boy the truth about our beautiful, bewildered world?

THE MILLION-COPY GLOBAL BESTSELLER AND WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION'Radical and exciting' Jessie Burton'Breathtaking' Barbara Kingsolver'It changed how I thought about the Earth and our place in it' Barack Obama'Really, just one of the best novels, period' Ann PatchettA wondrous, exhilarating novel about nine strangers brought together by an unfolding natural catastrophe. An artist inherits a hundred years of photographic portraits, all of the same doomed American chestnut. A hard-partying undergraduate in the late 1980s electrocutes herself, dies, and is sent back into life by creatures of air and light. A hearing- and speech-impaired scientist discovers that trees are communicating with one another. An Air Force crewmember in the Vietnam War is shot out of the sky, then saved by falling into a banyan. This is the story of these and five other strangers, each summoned in different ways by the natural world, who are brought together in a last stand to save it from catastrophe.

Astrobiolog Teo Birn ischet zhizn v dalekom kosmose i posle smerti zheny v odinochku vospityvaet svoego devjatiletnego syna Robina, neobychnogo umnogo malchika, kotoryj sochinjaet stikhi i mozhet chasami v melchajshikh podrobnostjakh risovat zhivotnykh i rastenija. A esche ego khotjat iskljuchit iz shkoly za to, chto on izbil sobstvennogo druga. S kazhdym mesjatsem sostojanie Robina ukhudshaetsja, i togda otets pribegaet k novejshemu metodu lechenija - nejronnoj obratnoj svjazi. Robin nachinaet kontrolirovat sebja, vzaimodejstvuja s modelju, kotoraja osnovana na predvaritelno zapisannom obraze emotsij ego pokojnoj materi, ranee uchastvovavshej v eksperimente. A tem vremenem mir vokrug Birnov i po vsej Zemle nachinaet razrushatsja.

Richard Powers' Bookerpris-nominerte roman Rådløshet er en uforglemmelig far-sønn-fortelling som forener brennende aktuelle spørsmål om kunstig intelligens og ung miljøaktivisme med evige spørsmål om utenforskap, savn og sjalusi. Astrobiologen Theo Byrne forsker på forutsetningene for liv på andre planeter. I sitt eget strever Theo med å komme over tapet av sin store kjærlighet Aly, som døde i en bilulykke, og med den ni år gamle sønnen Robin. Robin er full av energi og ville ideer, men han kan også sitte i timevis og tegne kunstferdige bilder – og han engasjerer seg voldsomt for alt som lever i verden. Robin er imidlertid også nær ved å bli utvist fra skolen, der han kjeder seg og havner i trøbbel hele tida. Når legene truer med å medisinere gutten mot diagnoser Theo mener Robin ikke fortjener, går han med på at sønnen skal være med på en eksperimentell behandlingsform hos Dr. Currier. Gjennom såkalt neurofeedback vil Dr. Currier eksponere Robin for moras hjerneaktivitet, som han «tok opp» som en del av det samme eksperimentet. Robin vokser enormt på «møtene» med sin avdøde mors tanke- og følelsesmønster, han blir en ny gutt. Men så kutter myndighetene finansieringen av forskningsprosjektet, og Robins verden raser sammen. Rådløshet er en original, men samtidig på mange måter klassisk roman som samler mange temaer: Hva kan en alenefar gjøre når den foreskrevne løsningen på innordningsproblemene til et begavet barn er medisinering? Hva svarer vi voksne når barna ber om en forklaring på hvorfor vi holder på med å utrydde oss selv og planeten vi bor på? Kan kunstig intelligens brukes til å kartlegge levende personers tanker og følelser, for dermed å holde dem levende for de etterlatte?«Richard Powers er en av de største nålevende forfatterne i landet vårt. Han komponerer noen av de vakreste setningene jeg noensinne har lest.» – Oprah Winfrey

The astrobiologist Theo Byrne searches for life throughout the cosmos while single-handedly raising his unusual nine-year-old, Robin, following the death of his wife. Robin is a warm, kind boy who spends hours painting elaborate pictures of endangered animals. He's also about to be expelled from third grade for smashing his friend in the face. As his son grows more troubled, Theo hopes to keep him off psychoactive drugs. He learns of an experimental neurofeedback treatment to bolster Robin's emotional control, one that involves training the boy on the recorded patterns of his mother's brain... With its soaring descriptions of the natural world, its tantalizing vision of life beyond, and its account of a father and son's ferocious love, Bewilderment marks Richard Powers's most intimate and moving novel. At its heart lies the question: How can we tell our children the truth about this beautiful, imperiled planet?

Miten osaamme kertoa lapsillemme totuuden tästä kauniista, tuhon partaalla olevasta planeetastamme? Yhdeksänvuotias Robin on herkkä ja älykäs lapsi, joka uppoutuu yksityiskohtaisiin, uhanalaisia eläimiä esittäviin maalauksiinsa. Hän on onnellisimmillaan luonnossa eikä käsitä, miksi ihmiset eivät toimi, vaikka planeettamme on hälytystilassa. Robinin yksinhuoltajaisä Theo etsii työssään astrobiologina elämän edellytyksiä kosmoksestamme. Helpottaakseen poikansa raivokohtauksia hän turvautuu psyykelääkkeiden sijasta tuttuun tiedemieheen. Kokeellisen menetelmän avulla Robinin on mahdollista harjoittaa omien tunteidensa säätelyä seuraamalla edesmenneen äitinsä dokumentoituja aivotoimintoja. Tarinaa kehystää toivottoman polarisoitunut yhteiskunta: maata hallitsee piittaamaton ja tieteenvastainen hallitus. Powersin perimmäinen huoli uhanalaisia elämänmuotoja kohtaan kattaa myös ihmislajin, joka tapaa kääntää katseen toisaalle vaikka heidän tekonsa vaaralliset seuraukset ovat selkeästi nähtävillä.“Kuinka me kadotimme vaistomme elää tällä planeetalta? Miten vieraannuimme niin kauas kaikesta muusta elävästä? Miksi vakuutuimme siitä, että olemme ainoa kiinnostuksen arvoinen asia ja ainoa laji, joka on pyhä?” - Richard Powers”Mestari voimiensa huipulla” -The Harvard Review”Uusi oodi luonnolle heti Pulitzer-palkinnon voittaneen Ikipuiden jälkeen...unohtumattoman intiimi tarina surun yksityiseen universumiin jumiutuneesta perheestä.” - The Washington Post