Why did I love this book?
Babel is an incredible work of imagination and scholarship.
Rebecca Kuang is an American with Chinese heritage and an academic linguist who has studied at Oxford and Cambridge. She brings all her background and education to bear in the remarkable book about an alternative version of the British Empire set in the 1830s.
It follows four young language scholars in their training in Oxford as they learn how to create magic out of silver and near equivalent words in two languages, the slight difference in meaning generating the power. Kuang describes these definitions in the text and in footnotes, and it is stunning how much intelligence and effort has gone into this.
The text has a strong theme of anti-colonialism running through it and is a sharp riposte to supporters of the Empire, bringing the attitudes of those who ruled the European powers into clear relief. But more importantly, this is a thrilling fantasy novel that will keep you turning the pages.
19 authors picked Babel as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
THE #2 SUNDAY TIMES AND #1 NYT BESTSELLER
'One for Philip Pullman fans'
THE TIMES
'An ingenious fantasy about empire'
GUARDIAN
'Fans of THE SECRET HISTORY, this one is an automatic buy'
GLAMOUR
'Ambitious, sweeping and epic'
EVENING STANDARD
Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.
Oxford, 1836.
The city of dreaming spires.
It is the centre of all knowledge and progress in the world.
And at its centre is Babel, the Royal Institute of Translation. The tower from which all the power of the Empire flows.
Orphaned in Canton and brought to England by…