The Alteration

Science Fiction & Fantasy, Science Fiction, Adventure
Cover of the book The Alteration by Kingsley Amis, New York Review Books
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Kingsley Amis ISBN: 9781590176375
Publisher: New York Review Books Publication: May 7, 2013
Imprint: NYRB Classics Language: English
Author: Kingsley Amis
ISBN: 9781590176375
Publisher: New York Review Books
Publication: May 7, 2013
Imprint: NYRB Classics
Language: English

In Kingsley Amis’s virtuoso foray into virtual history it is 1976 but the modern world is a medieval relic, frozen in intellectual and spiritual time ever since Martin Luther was promoted to pope back in the sixteenth century. Stephen the Third, the king of England, has just died, and Mass (Mozart’s second requiem) is about to be sung to lay him to rest. In the choir is our hero, Hubert Anvil, an extremely ordinary ten-year-old boy with a faultless voice. In the audience is a select group of experts whose job is to determine whether that faultless voice should be preserved by performing a certain operation. Art, after all, is worth any sacrifice.

How Hubert realizes what lies in store for him and how he deals with the whirlpool of piety, menace, terror, and passion that he soon finds himself in are the subject of a classic piece of counterfactual fiction equal to Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle.

The Alteration won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best science-fiction novel in 1976.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In Kingsley Amis’s virtuoso foray into virtual history it is 1976 but the modern world is a medieval relic, frozen in intellectual and spiritual time ever since Martin Luther was promoted to pope back in the sixteenth century. Stephen the Third, the king of England, has just died, and Mass (Mozart’s second requiem) is about to be sung to lay him to rest. In the choir is our hero, Hubert Anvil, an extremely ordinary ten-year-old boy with a faultless voice. In the audience is a select group of experts whose job is to determine whether that faultless voice should be preserved by performing a certain operation. Art, after all, is worth any sacrifice.

How Hubert realizes what lies in store for him and how he deals with the whirlpool of piety, menace, terror, and passion that he soon finds himself in are the subject of a classic piece of counterfactual fiction equal to Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle.

The Alteration won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best science-fiction novel in 1976.

More books from New York Review Books

Cover of the book Between the Woods and the Water by Kingsley Amis
Cover of the book Margaret Cavendish by Kingsley Amis
Cover of the book Ride a Cockhorse by Kingsley Amis
Cover of the book Nightmare Alley by Kingsley Amis
Cover of the book In the Café of Lost Youth by Kingsley Amis
Cover of the book Alice James by Kingsley Amis
Cover of the book The Case of Comrade Tulayev by Kingsley Amis
Cover of the book Fatale by Kingsley Amis
Cover of the book My Century by Kingsley Amis
Cover of the book Donkey-donkey by Kingsley Amis
Cover of the book The Complete Bostock and Harris by Kingsley Amis
Cover of the book Nothing by Kingsley Amis
Cover of the book Ice Trilogy by Kingsley Amis
Cover of the book Samskara by Kingsley Amis
Cover of the book My Friends by Kingsley Amis
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy