Publisher Description
A profound, darkly comedic parable set in a future where collective memory has vanished following a historic catastrophe, and one young couple's love affair could have shattering consequences for the human race. In a world where the past is a dangerous country, not to be talked about or visited, J is a love story of incomparable strangeness, both tender and terrifying. After the devastation of WHAT HAPPENED, IF IT HAPPENED, all that should remain is peace and prosperity. Everyone knows his or her place; all actions are out in the open. But Esme Nussbaum has seen the distorted realities, the fissures that have only widened in the twenty-plus years since she was forced to resign from her position at the monitor of the Public Mood. Now, Esme finds something strange and special developing in a romance between Ailinn Solomons and Kevern Cohen. As this unusual pair's actions draw them into ever-increasing danger, Esme realizes she must do everything in her power to keep them together--whatever the cost.
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“[J]’s success owes much to the fine texture of its dystopia… As a conspiracy yarn examining the manipulation of collective memory, J has legs, and it’s well worth its place on this year’s Man Booker longlist… Jacobson has crafted an immersive, complex experience with care and guile.”
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Observer (London)
About Howard Jacobson
Howard Jacobson was born in Manchester, England, in 1942, was educated at Cambridge University, and lectured at the University of Sydney for three years before returning to England where he taught English at Selwyn College. A novelist and broadcaster, Jacobson’s books include The Finkler Question, winner of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction, and J, a Man Booker finalist.
About the Narrators
Adjoa Andoh is an Audie Award and Earphones Award–winning narrator and an actress of British film, television, stage, and radio. In 2022, she was awarded the AudioFile Golden Voice Award. She is known on the UK stage for lead roles at the RSC, the National Theatre, the Royal Court Theatre, and the Almeida Theatre, and she is a familiar face on British television. She made her Hollywood debut starring as Nelson Mandela’s chief of staff, Brenda Mazikubo, alongside Morgan Freeman as Mandela in Clint Eastwood’s Invictus.
Colin Mace is an actor recently seen in the National Theatre’s One Man, Two Guvnors. He starred in the critically acclaimed drama The Night Watch for the BBC, Shirley for BBC2, as well as several episodes of Eastenders. His theater credits include “Ted Narracott” in War Horse at the National Theatre and West End, as well as Cash at WYP, and The 39 Steps and The Odysee at the Lyric Hammersmith. Other television credits includes Peep Show, Abolition, The Bill, Down to Earth, and The Project.