By Light Alone

Description

In a world where we have been genetically engineered so that we can photosynthesise sunlight with our hair, hunger is a thing of the past, food an indulgence. The poor grow their hair, the rich affect baldness and flaunt their wealth by still eating. But other hungers remain... The young daughter of an affluent New York family is kidnapped. The ransom demands are refused. A year later a young women arrives at the family home claiming to be their long lost daughter. She has changed so much, she has lived on light, can anyone be sure that she has come home? Adam Roberts' new novel is yet another amazing melding of startling ideas and beautiful prose. Set in a New York of the future it nevertheless has echoes of a Fitzgeraldesque affluence and art-deco style. It charts his further progress as one of the most important writers of his generation.

Adam Roberts is Professor of 19th-century literature at London University. His novels, SALT, GRADISIL and YELLOW BLUE TIBIA have all been shortlisted for the Arthur C Clarke Award. He has also published a number of academic works on both 19th-century poetry and SF.

In the tradition of Swift, Orwell and Atwood--THE TIMES