


Announcing Light Perpetual, a new novel from
Francis Spufford
By Faber Editor, 16 October 2020

Faber to publish an ingenious and profound novel by Francis Spufford, the best-selling, prize-winning author of Golden Hill.
From the winner of the Costa First Novel Award, the RSL Ondaatje Prize and the Desmond Elliott Prize comes a novel of the everyday, the miraculous and the everlasting.
November 1944. A German rocket incinerates a South London household-goods store, and five young lives are atomised in an instant.
Jo and Valerie and Alec and Ben and Vernon are gone.
But what if it were possible to resurrect them – to let them experience the extraordinary, unimaginable changes of the twentieth century; to live out all the personal triumphs and disasters, the second chances and redemptions denied them?
What kind of future would there be for clever, impulsive Alec?
What would happen to Val in the world of men, beckoning beyond her all-female household?
What would become of Vern’s greed – and his helplessness in the face of song?
Would light or darkness fill Ben’s fragile mind?
And where would Jo go, with the music playing in her head?
Alex Bowler, Faber Publisher, says:
‘Like everything Francis has written, Light Perpetual is ingenious and profound, both sweeping and intimate, full of warmth and beauty. It has you turning the final page with a renewed and enriched appreciation for the gift of life.’
Light Perpetual will be published in hardback on 4 February 2021. UK, Commonwealth (ex. Can) & EU rights were acquired from Clare Alexander at Aitken Alexander Associates.
From the best-selling, prize-winning author of Golden Hill, a novel of the everyday, the miraculous and the everlasting.