With the publication of The Crimson Petal and the White, Michel Faber became one of the most lauded and admired novelists at work today. This rich, brilliantly written and highly original work about the struggles, ambitions and progress of a nineteen-year-old prostitute in Victorian England was hailed as "a big, sexy, bravura novel" by The New York Times. It has sold nearly half a million copies in the U.S. alone. In 2011, it was made into an acclaimed mini-series by the BBC, starring Romola Garai, Chris O'Dowd, Shirley Henderson, Richard E. Grant and Gillian Anderson.Faber's new book, his first in thirteen years, is full of emotion and deep humanity. The Book of Strange New Things is a mind-blowing work that fearlessly tackles the search for meaning in an unfathomable universe. It concerns Peter and Beatrice, whose marriage is tested when Peter travels as a missionary, spreading the Gospel to a faraway land, and Beatrice is left to deal with troubles at home. In the most extraordinary and spellbinding ways, it deals with faith-religious faith, to be sure, but also faith in oneself, faith in salvation and faith in those we love. Riveting, mysterious and eye-opening, Faber's latest novel is sure to be one of the most read and discussed books of 2014.
