{"product_id":"the-variations-paperback","title":"The Variations - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003ePatrick Langley\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn eerie ability is passed from grandmother to grandson--who now must reckon with a new cacophony of voices and sounds, all from the past, overlaying his life in the present--in this stirring new novel from one of the UK's most exciting young writers.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSelda Heddle, a famously reclusive composer, is found dead in a snowy field near her Cornish home. She was educated at Agnes's Hospice for Acoustically Gifted Children, which for centuries has offered its young wards a grounding in the gift--an inherited ability to tune into the voices and sounds of the past. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhen she dies, Selda's gift passes down to her grandson Wolf, who must make sense of her legacy, and learn to live with the newly unleashed voices in his head. Ambitious and exhilarating, \u003ci\u003eThe Variations\u003c\/i\u003e is a novel of startling originality about music and the difficulty--or impossibility--of living with the past. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"If Hilary Mantel's \u003ci\u003eBeyond Black\u003c\/i\u003e were written by John Banville channelling M. John Harrison, the result would look something like this. And yet Langley has made something new and unexpected about how the present is, necessarily and always, an echo corridor of the past. Beautifully written, powered by a wonderfully intelligent conceptual dynamo, and deftly sprung with surprises, \u003ci\u003eThe Variations\u003c\/i\u003e is an utterly original book about haunting. It is strange, resonant, and, yes, haunting.\"-- Neel Mukherjee, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Lives of Others\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePatrick Langley\u003c\/b\u003e is a novelist and art critic. His first novel, \u003ci\u003eArkady\u003c\/i\u003e, was longlisted for the Royal Society of Literature's Ondaatje Prize and the Deborah Rogers Writers Prize. He is an editor at \u003ci\u003ee-flux\u003c\/i\u003e and writes about art for \u003ci\u003efrieze\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eArt Agenda\u003c\/i\u003e, and other publications. \u003ci\u003eThe Variations \u003c\/i\u003eis his second novel. He lives in London.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 472\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.02 x 8.58 x 5.75 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e February 20, 2024\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42726597066815,"sku":"9781681378398","price":19.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0105\/8226\/1823\/files\/88112e8d34c9c7bca9d133d28fc9791e.webp?v=1765111574","url":"https:\/\/dhl-adrianne.myshopify.com\/products\/the-variations-paperback","provider":"BBB","version":"1.0","type":"link"}