As every schoolboy knows, you can fit the whole of England on the Isle of Wight. In Julian Barnes's new novel, the grotesque, visionary tycoon Sir Jack Pitman takes the saying literally and does exactly that. He constructs on the island 'The Project', a vast heritage centre containing everything 'English', from Buck House to Stonehenge, from Manchester United to the White Cliffs of Dover. The project is monstrous, risky and vastly successful. Indeed, it gradually begins to rival 'Old' England and threatens to supersede it. "Both ambitious and serious - real if you like. Dive at those dump-bins." - Andrew Marr, "Observer". "A brilliant, Swiftian fantasy." - "Economist". "There is no more intelligent writer on the literary scene. In this novel, he is also moving. He has written nothing more poignant and enticing." - John Carey, "Sunday Times". "The novel has memorable characters and sentences, but its main impact will be through its penetrating ideas." - John Lanchester, "Daily Telegraph".
Julian Barnes is the author of nine novels, including Metroland, Flaubert's Parrot, A History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters, England, England and Arthur and George, and two collections of short stories, Cross Channel and The Lemon Table.
