Why did I love this book?
If you’re a grownup who enjoyed Harry Potter but wished there was more to chew on, this is for you.
Setting her story at the time of the British Opium War in China, Rebecca Kuang puts fantasy to work, challenging the premises of European imperialism. That sounds heavy, but the action is fast-paced, and the central characters have depth.
Young people with unusual magical talents from China, India, and the West Indies arrive to study at a very peculiar Oxford, only to discover that they’re being turned into tools of empire. Think of it as a steampunk-fantasy with a touch of alternate history—something for nearly every fan of speculative fiction.
9 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…