The Rouse

Read by Colin Mace and Emma Spurgin Hussey, featuring the voice of the author, China Miéville.

From the bestselling, award-winning master of uncanny fiction comes a defining work, twenty years in the making – a deeply moving, decade- and continent-spanning epic of grief, global tumult, and grim conspiracy.

'Miéville’s command of his prose is phenomenal . . . This is a world that you can truly swim in, and few authors can achieve that' - The Times
‘Affecting, intelligent and, in more than one place, very, very frightening. This is a novel destined for a rich afterlife' - The Guardian
'An extraordinary tour de force' - Adrian Tchaikovsky
'A monster of a book in every sense' - Francis Spufford
'I felt it in my bones, the undeniable power of a jagged masterpiece' - The New York Times

Maur’s life has been shaped by an unbearable loss. But in the aftermath of what is an apparently ordinary tragedy, deeper, stranger questions arise . . . Their answers may lie within the dark heart and darker history of an old soldier who shares Maur’s obsessions – and is violently pursued by the same unknown, unquiet forces.

So begins The Rouse, a masterpiece unlike any other: at once a sprawling saga of the bloody twentieth century, and the intimate story of two lives, their loves, regrets and secrets – and a terrifying journey into infinite mystery.

Praise for China Miéville, author of The City & The City

‘You can’t talk about Miéville without using the word “brilliant”’ – Ursula K. Le Guin
‘One of the most interesting and freakishly gifted writers of his generation’ – The Daily Telegraph
‘As intelligent as he is original’ – The Guardian
‘The names of Kafka and Orwell tend to be invoked too easily for anything a bit out of the ordinary, but in this case they are worthy comparisons’ – The Times