Night Train To Lisbon

'If you liked Carlos Ruiz Zafon's The Shadow of the Wind, you'll love international bestseller, Night Train to Lisbon.' Image

One day mild-mannered, middle aged teacher Raimund Gregorius suddenly quits his ordinary life and, for no reason apparent to his colleagues of his students, sets off on a journey across Europe. Haunted by a mysterious old book that seems, somehow, to speak to him personally, he embarks in search of clues to the life of its enigmatic Portuguese author, Amadeu de Prado. Gradually he uncovers the life of an extraordinary man: a child prodigy, a doctor, a philosopher and a rebel. And as Gregorius learns about Prado, he also begins a process of self-discovery, looking back at his own life and the choices he has made, wondering about the man he might have been. Hurtling through the dark, Night Train to Lisbon is a profound tale, wonderfully told, propelled by the mystery at its heart.

'A a novel of ideas that reads like a triller: an unsentimental journey that seems to transcend time and space. Every character, every scene, is evoked with an incomparable economy and a tragic nobility redolent of the mysterious hero . . . Pascal Mercier now takes his rightful place among our finest European novelists.' Sunday Telegraph

'A meditative novel that builds an uncanny power . . . Night Train to Lisbon maintains a remarkable immediacy that makes for a rare reading pleasure.' San Francisco Chronicle