The Anomaly: The mind-bending thriller that has sold 1 million copies

Description

A runaway bestseller, and the winner of France's most prestigious literary prize, The Anomaly is the bestselling international sensation that asks- What would you do, if there were two of you? When Air France flight 006 departed from Paris, the route to New York was just as it had always been. The skies were clear. The passengers were safe. Everything was going to plan. Until the event that would change everything. Amidst terrifying turbulence, the plane - somehow - was doubled. For every one person on board that day, there were now two. A double with the same body, the same mind, the same memories. When it's time for the doubles to meet, they must confront their extraordinary fate. And only one thing is certain- life as they know it, will never be the same.

Herve Le Tellier is a writer, journalist, mathematician, food critic, and teacher. Since 1992, he has been a member of the prestigious and experimental Oulipo group of writers and mathematicians, who work to push against the boundaries of form and structure. At the age of 64, with a decades-long career and several novels, essay and short story collections to his name, The Anomaly is his breakout hit. In 2020, it was awarded the prestigious Prix Goncourt, and has sold over a million copies.

Buckle your seatbelts, as Herve le Tellier takes you on an extraordinary ride. You won't want to put this book down until the very last page! -- Leila Slimani * author of Lullaby, winner of the 2016 Prix Goncourt * Wow, what an exciting, original blend of theory and heart. It's astonishing. I can't describe it, except to say: read it, and prepare for a whole new perspective on your own existence - and plane travel -- Janice Hallett * Sunday Times bestselling author of The Appeal * A mind-bending, prize-winning speculative thriller * Guardian * A good idea, elegantly executed * Daily Telegraph * A funny, smart thriller that surfs the Zeitgeist with typical elan -- Adrian McKinty, bestselling author of The Chain A really intriguing novel -- John Boyne The Anomaly is one and ten novels at once, brilliantly connecting every mystery of intimacy with the great mystery of humanity -- Michel Bussi It's a phenomenal read. I loved how it tied together. So clever yet also so gripping -- Harriet Tyce * Sunday Times bestselling author of Blood Orange * This high-concept SF thriller is enormous fun: a French prize winner spiced with Oulipian theory and literary in-jokes, riddling away at existential questions in the guise of a breakneck page-turner' * Guardian, 'Summer Reading: The 50 Hottest New Books' * Amusing, affecting, effervescent * Guardian * It is intricate, ingenious, propulsive - but it is also affecting * Scotsman * An extraordinary mix of existential thriller and speculative fiction. Questions of philosophy, mathematics and astrophysics bend this novel far from the typical mold, and Le Tellier's characters must confront the deepest questions of existence. This thought-provoking literary work deserves a wide readership * Publishers Weekly * A French literary phenomenon...The Anomaly captured a moment when the pandemic stopped the world and existence veered toward the virtual. It swerves between various genres - science fiction, a thriller, love stories, an introspective work - without being confined by any of them * New York Times * Written with such page-turning conviction that readers are guaranteed a thoroughly enjoyable intellectual workout * The Times * The buzz around this Goncourt prize-winner is richly deserved, and just when you think you've worked it out . . . well, you probably haven't * Daily Mail * Intriguing * SFX * A flight of imagination you'll be rolling over in your mind long after deplaning * Washington Post * A striking thought experiment...Le Tellier delivers some sharp social comedy here. But behind the comedy are more profound psychological questions about individual freedom. The Anomaly is priceless * Times Literary Supplement * A witty, erudite novel, teeming and minutely detailed, a treat throughout, with-at its centre-that head-spinning conceit that will leave you deep in thought for a long time after reading the final page. It is rare to have so much fun with something so intelligent -- Nicolas Mathieu * author of And Their Children After Them, winner of the 2018 Prix Goncourt * The Anomaly is thought-provoking and philosophical yet thrilling too, with superbly drawn characters, a dynamic plot, and a fascinating question at its heart - what if the entire world as we know it is a lie? -- Andrew Hunter Murray A speculative thriller from literary powerhouse Herve le Tellier. Perfect for those who like their realities unstable * Crime Reads * Mind-bending * The Times * Humorous, captivating, thoughtful - existentialism has never been so thrilling * Kirkus Reviews * Manifest meets Lost in The Anomaly...a puzzle box of a sci-fi thriller * PopSugar * An extraordinary, fast-paced, disturbing novel, perfect for these extraordinary, fast-paced, disturbing times. Think Steven Spielberg meets Umberto Eco with a side order of black humour, generously sprinkled with genuine emotion -- Sam Taylor * author of The Island At The End Of The World * A uniquely, gloriously, provocatively French contribution to the sci-fi thriller genre - it will keep you guessing, get your heart pounding, and make you feel and wonder and - above all - think -- Sam J. Miller * Nebula-Award winning author of Blackfish City * In The Anomaly, Herve Le Tellier has delivered a volatile and compelling thriller that has you hurtling toward the mystery at the heart of the novel from page one. The Anomaly is a gripping and moving blend of Blake Crouch's Dark Matter, the television show Lost, with a bit of The Philadelphia Experiment thrown in for good measure. I couldn't put it down. -- Terry Miles * author of Rabbits * Exhilarating, thought-provoking, funny, and devastating. The Anomaly is unlike anything else I've read this year -- Laure Van Rensburg * author of Nobody But Us * I was completely blown away by this genre-defying masterpiece. Part thriller, part philosophical rumination on what makes us human, and with a dash of theoretical physics; this is an absolute must-read -- Sarah Bonner * author of Her Perfect Twin * The Anomaly is a brilliant balancing act of a novel, a fantastic rush and ride that works on myriad levels, at various depths, and in a multitude of styles. It's a precise and erudite literary treat, a comedic sociopolitical-religious skewering of these contemporary times, a philosophical-scientific-mathematical dive into the puzzles of possibility, space, and time, and an ingenious thought experiment that lends itself easily to ad infinitum analysis and dissection. It's also entirely grounded in human nature. Le Tellier's pointillistic characters are, like all of us, buffeted by desires, seeking love, striving, aging, making good and bad decisions, choosing the right or wrong paths, believing they know and understand themselves, utterly trusting in free will. Highly intelligent, ironic without cheap cynicism, The Anomaly is an immensely fun novel, an immersive experience that leaves the reader analysing everything anew -- Cherise Wolas * author of The Resurrection of Joan Ashby and The Family Tabor * The year has only just begun but I will be surprised if I read something as astonishing as The Anomaly in the next 12 months * Scotsman * It's dizzying, exhilarating, brilliant! -- Nicholas Carreau * Europe 1 * An intoxicating mix of the magical and life's big questions * Financial Times * Herve le Tellier's new novel is an exquisite, insane surprise. Quite simply astounding * Le Journal du Dimanche * An addictive page-turner, The Anomaly flirts with thriller and science fiction, and mirrors the best televisions series in its very effective orchestration of suspense. Filled with fascination existential and metaphysical questions, this is an effective, funny and discreetly melancholy novel * Le Monde * A brilliant, extremely inventive book. Like an astounding screenplay for an American blockbuster, written by a Frenchman who is having fun with it -- Olivia de Lamberterie * France 2 * Herve le Tellier has written an impossible novel. It's a thriller but also a fantasy. A choral novel, which is also surrealist. An adventure, a page turner, a bestseller, but also an experimental, highly literary work -- Frederic Beigbeder * Le Figaro Magazine * A delight. Intricate, ingenious, propulsive - but also affecting, with numerous moments that are terribly poignant along with its puzzles and winks * i * How would society respond to the inexplicable? This is the question the author tries, with intelligence, elegance and humour, to answer. Herve le Tellier has written a frank and gripping novel with complex, moving characters. You won't be able to put it down! -- Claire Bitaudeau * Librairie Millepages * Effervescent playfulness . . . Hilariously deadpan * Guardian * The novel is a tour de force which both dives into the personal lives of several characters and at the same time gives a group perspective on an international event which verges on science fiction. The taut rhythm of the investigation keeps the reader on tenterhooks * Toute La Culture * The situations are mad, but the questions they raise, far less so. Such is the profundity of this astonishing book: it makes light of itself, lending an air of fantasy to the fates of its characters, while Herve le Tellier holds a mirror up before us * Le Figaro * A master of one-touch characterisation. Le Tellier's genius is in making the unimaginable feel authentic * Metro * Le Tellier, throughout this flight, deposits on the tarmac his stunned reader, ready to applaud * L'Opinion * Le Tellier is a masterful writer and his staggering story verges on thriller and science fiction * Version Femina * Somewhere between fable and science fiction, it's a fascinating novel * La Depeche du Midi * The novel weaves a surprising story out of several narrative threads which give Herve le Tellier the opportunity to touch on as many literary genres as he does themes, in a biting and often funny critique of the start of the 21st century * En Attendant Nadeau * Excellent...at once zeitgeisty, intelligent, and entertaining * Charlie Hebdo * Fantastic...The Anomaly wears its name well: it's rare in France that a work combines the best of American TV series with an impeccable mastery of the French psychological novel * Elle France * Dizzying, compelling * RTE Guide * Mind-bending. Herve Le Tellier's emotional and intellectual rollercoaster is well worth the ride * The Times Literary Supplement * A delightfully confounding thriller . . . Le Tellier's prose is beautifully efficient and capable of quiet devastation * London Review of Books *