A Brief History of Seven Killings

WINNER OF THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2015

JAMAICA, 1976

Seven gunmen storm Bob Marley’s house, machine guns blazing. The reggae superstar survives, but the gunmen are never caught.

From the acclaimed author of The Book of Night Women comes a dazzling display of masterful storytelling exploring this near-mythic event. Spanning three decades and crossing continents, A Brief History of Seven Killings chronicles the lives of a host of unforgettable characters – slum kids, one-night stands, drug lords, girlfriends, gunmen, journalists, and even the CIA. Gripping and inventive, ambitious and mesmerising, A Brief History of Seven Killings is one of the most remarkable and extraordinary novels of the twenty-first century.

'This tense and violent, but very compelling, novel is a big book in more ways than one.' - The Herald

'[James's] talent has grown from book to book, and his imagination consistently shines a light on dark and gory places...this is a work that explores the aesthetics of cacophony and also the aesthetics of violence.' - Guardian

'resembles James Ellroy's LA Quartet in its blistering violence, multiple voices and view of history"from the gutter to the star"' - The Daily Telegraph

'Critics rave about James’ mastery of both oral history storytelling and patois dialect, and his ability to craft and juggle perspectives that often contradict and obscure the truth. With comparisons to the works of David Foster Wallace and Quentin Tarantino, James has garnered the highest of contemporary praise.'   - Wired 10 Best Books of 2014

'It’s like a Tarantino remake of “The Harder They Come” but with a soundtrack by Bob Marley and a script by Oliver Stone and William Faulkner...epic in every sense of that word: sweeping, mythic, over-the-top, colossal and dizzyingly complex.' - New York Times

‘Marlon James's writing can be at once at once punchy and lyrical; can alternate strange, dreamy poetry with visceral action; and can bring persuasive life to a kaleidoscopic range of characters. [This book] showcases the extraordinary capabilities of a writer whose importance can scarcely be questioned’  - Independent

‘A vivid plunge into a crazed, violent and corrupt world... executed with swaggering aplomb’ - Irvine Welsh

 'A brilliant novel' - Library Journal

‘Scary and lyrically beautiful - you'll want to read whole pages aloud to strangers.’ - Russell Banks

'Not only persuasive, but tragic, though in its polyphony and scope it’s more than that ... the book’s increasing sense of absurdity, its pop culture references, its compulsive ventriloquism and its range of tones – comic, surreal, nightmarish, parodic – began to remind me uncannily of David Foster Wallace’s all-or-nothing Infinite Jest.’ - New York Times Book Review

Marlon James brings A Brief History of Seven Killings to life!

Here, he reads an extract from his multi-voice, Patois-infused novel...