The Imposters

The Imposters is the first novel in stories that Tom Rachman has written since his international bestseller The Imperfectionists.

It's set during a crisis in democracy, a society in lockdown linked digitally but convulsed by a social media frenzy, and is told by a little-known, little-read Dutch novelist named Dora Frenhofer who has decided that her life as an old woman in this post-truth pandemic world has become too much.

But like a twenty-first century Scheherazade Dora spins stories to fend off the evil day, conjuring connections from her past to give meaning to the present. She imagines the fate of her missing brother, lost on the hippie trail in India in the sixties; the loneliness of her estranged daughter Beck, whose career writing stand-up shows for Netflix dramatizes the culture wars; Danny, an almost equally unfashionable writer she meets at a festival; the tortured history of the van driver who takes her unwanted books away; the nonchalant courier who nearly ran her over in the rain; her former lover, the sophisticated food critic; her last remaining friend. And finally, Dora's own last chapter.

The Imposters is Rachman at his inimitable best, a writer whose formal ingenuity and flamboyant technique is matched by his humanity and generosity.

About the Author

Tom Rachman was born in London in 1974 and grew up in Vancouver. His first novel, The Imperfectionists, was an international bestseller, published in more than 20 languages. Both novels so far have been feted by critics, who compared him to Charles Dickens, Evelyn Waugh and Anton Chekhov. He lives in London.