Get Free Shipping on orders over $49
The Porpoise - Mark Haddon

The Porpoise

By: Mark Haddon

Paperback | 19 May 2020

At a Glance

Paperback


RRP $27.99

$27.75

or 4 interest-free payments of $6.94 with

Ships in 25 to 30 business days

From bestselling author Mark Haddon comes a wild adventure of a novel that transports the reader from the present day to ancient times and back again - 'a breathless, delightful, utterly absorbing read' (Guardian)

'Just downright brilliant... a transcendent, transporting experience' Observer

A motherless girl grows up in isolated luxury, hidden from the world by her wealthy father. She believes their life together is normal - but as time passes, she has a growing sense that something between them is very wrong.

She cannot escape, so she seeks solace in her books. Her favourite tales are those that conjure ancient worlds - of angry gods and heroic mortals, one of whom will some day come to her rescue.

Soon, she will forget where the page ends and her mind begins.

'A full-throttle blast of storytelling mastery' Max Porter
Industry Reviews
Wondrous... a violent, all-action thrill ride shuttling between antiquity and the present... just downright brilliant... a transcendant, transporting experience... A helix, a mirror ball, a literary box of tricks... take your pick: this is a full-spectrum pleasure, mixing metafictional razzmatazz with pulse-racing action and a prose style to die for. I'll be staggered if it's not spoken of whenever prizes are mentioned this year -- Anthony Cummins * Observer *
A beautifully rendered retelling...[and] a gripping novel that, despite its rollicking plot, never feels relentless, and is often very affecting indeed -- Jon Day * Financial Times *
The extraordinary force and vividness of Haddon's prose ensure that The Porpoise reads [...] as a continually unfolding demonstration of the transporting power of stories... This is language that knows how to do things: sail a ship, make a gold buckle, negotiate the tides of the Thames. It's a stunningly effective combination of the quotidian and the mythic that pins impossibility to the page -- Justine Jordan * Guardian *
Compelling, satisfying and moving... Haddon's writing is exquisite, balancing simple storytelling with searing insight -- Paul Connolly * Metro *
The Porpoise is terrifically violent, with a bright, innocent ferocity ... Haddon wants to restore agency to the female characters sidelined by the Antiochus legend. This could feel like a condescending attempt to end up on the right of history, but doesn't -- Katy Waldman * The New Yorker *

You Can Find This Book In

More in Modern & Contemporary Fiction

The Emperor of Gladness - Ocean Vuong

RRP $24.99

$21.75

13%
OFF
The Typing Lady : And Other Fictions - Ruth Ozeki

RRP $34.99

$28.75

18%
OFF
Over to You - Georgie Tunny

Paperback

RRP $34.99

$19.99

43%
OFF
The Palace of Lost Virtue - Anthea Hodgson

RRP $34.99

$22.99

34%
OFF
People in Love - Claire Daverley

RRP $34.99

$24.99

29%
OFF
Mother, Ghost, Mango Seed - Natalie Gregory

RRP $34.99

$24.99

29%
OFF
Good Girl : Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2025 - Aria Aber
What We Can Know - Ian McEwan

RRP $24.99

$21.75

13%
OFF
Hidden Nature - Nora Roberts

Paperback

RRP $24.99

$21.75

13%
OFF
Matcha on Monday : The Marble Cafe series - Michiko Aoyama

RRP $34.99

$28.75

18%
OFF
The Ballad of Ronan McCoy - Colin Morgan

RRP $32.99

$26.99

18%
OFF
The Door - Magda Szabó

Paperback

RRP $24.99

$21.75

13%
OFF
The Children : 'So unique and suprising: I practically inhaled it' - Melissa Albert
The Subtle Pleasures of Indiscretion : Isabel Dalhousie Novels - Alexander McCall Smith
At Sea - Y.M. Abdel-Magied

Paperback

RRP $32.99

$22.99

30%
OFF
Boring Asian Female - CANWEN XU

RRP $32.99

$19.99

39%
OFF

This product is categorised by