Promotional Information

The astonishing opener to Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking trilogy, soon to be a major feature film starring Tom Holland, Daisy Ridley and Mads Mikkelsen

About the Author

Patrick Ness was born on an army base called Fort Belvoir, near Alexandria, Virginia, in the United States where his father was a drill sergeant in the US Army. Patrick’s family soon moved to Hawaii, where he lived until I was almost six and he later lived in Washington and Los Angeles.

After studying English Literature at the University of Southern California, Patrick got a job as a corporate writer at a cable company in Los Angeles, writing manuals and speeches and once even an advertisement for the Gilroy, California Garlic Festival. His writing career started with the publication of his first story in Genre magazine in 1997. Since then, Patrick moved to London and has had two adult books published and also taught creative writing at Oxford. Humphrey Bower is a gifted and versatile actor. Since obtaining a BA (Hons) in English Language and Literature at Oxford University, he has worked extensively in theatre, television and audiobook narration. Humphrey won the prestigious Audie Award (US) for his performance of The Family Frying Pan by Bryce Courtenay, and was shortlisted for an Audie Award for his performances of Gould's Book of Fish by Richard Flanagan and Brother Fish by Bryce Courtenay. Humphrey's sensitive and intelligent readings are highly regarded and he is well-known for his capacity to perform a variety of accents.

Reviews

'Pure inventiveness and excitement.'
*Booklist*

'A stunning debut ... As compelling as it is original.'
*The Times*

'Furiously paced, terrifying, exhilarating, and heartbreaking, [it] haunts your imagination.'
*The Sunday Telegraph*

'Darkly imagined and brilliantly created, the painful dystopian setting of a world full of noise in which all thoughts can be heard as if spoken is the background to this tense coming of age story.'
*The Guardian*