Conclave

Description

FROM THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLING AUTHOR THE POWER OF GOD. THE AMBITION OF MEN. THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER Behind the locked doors of the Sistine Chapel, 118 cardinals are meeting in conclave to cast their votes in the world's most secretive election. They are holy men. But they are ambitious. And they have rivals. Over the next 72 hours, one of them will become the most powerful spiritual figure on earth. Who will it be? 'Unputdownable' Guardian 'Gripping' Sunday Times

Robert Harris is the author of fifteen bestselling novels- the Cicero Trilogy - Imperium, Lustrum and Dictator - Fatherland, Enigma, Archangel, Pompeii, The Ghost, The Fear Index, An Officer and a Spy, which won four prizes including the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, Conclave, Munich, The Second Sleep, V2 and Act of Oblivion. His work has been translated into forty languages and he is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He lives in West Berkshire with his wife, Gill Hornby.

Harris' superlative skill at depicting power politics makes this an irresistibly gripping papal page-turner. * Sunday Times, BOOKS OF THE YEAR * Thriller of the year . . . with a plot so serpentine and sinuous that I could not bear to put it down. -- Geoffrey Wansell * Daily Mail BOOKS OF THE YEAR * 'I have been waiting for most of my life for Robert Harris to write a novel that is not gripping, insightful and entertaining. I am waiting still. His latest, Conclave, is superb. -- Ben Macintyre * The Times BOOKS OF THE YEAR * A real page-turner, with a great twist in the final pages. -- Libby Purves * The Times BOOKS OF THE YEAR * Finishing this splendid and intelligent story, as with all great fiction, brings an acute sense of loss. -- Richard Susskind * The Times BOOKS OF THE YEAR * Robert Harris is incapable of writing a substandard novel. -- Alan Johnson * Observer, BOOKS OF THE YEAR * Each Robert Harris thriller is different but of exemplary consistency. -- Ian Rankin * Mirror BOOKS OF THE YEAR * Robert Harris is the master storyteller of our time . . . Beautifully constructed . . . it's dramatically compelling, politically intelligent, beautifully paced and with a lovely twist in the tail . . . narrative doesn't come better than this. * Scotsman BOOKS OF THE YEAR * I am about to use a word I have never knowingly used in any review of any book ever. During my 25-odd years of writing about books I have done my best to avoid cliches, slipshod summaries, oracular pronouncements and indeed anything else that might appear emblazoned on a book jacket. Nonetheless, there is only one possible word to describe Robert Harris's new novel, and it is this: unputdownable -- Ian Sansom * Guardian * A master of producing thrillers of ever-tightening suspense, full of insider analysis of political power and the treatment of momentous events . . . gripping . . . more than a crime novel, it is also a psychological and political thriller . . . Conclave is a triumphant addition to Harris' acclaimed output -- David Grylls * Sunday Times * Gripping . . . like an ecclesiastical version of House of Cards * The Times * Well-researched, intelligently observed and highly credible . . . Fast-moving and suspenseful, it's elegantly written entertainment from a first-rate storyteller. * Mail on Sunday * Grips like a vice and manages to convey all the drama of an election without resorting to melodrama -- Jake Kerridge * Sunday Express * An electric read, like a shot of adrenalin to the heart . . . rollicking and literate . . . an insightful and witty thriller -- Tim Stanley * Literary Review * Page-turning heaven -- Alice Jones * Independent *