The Songs of the Kings - Hardcover

"Elegant, profound, and wonder-provoking.... Unsworth's writing is unrivaled, he gets better and better, and his versatility is breathtaking. His novels are close to perfect in an imperfect literary world."

Unsworth's story never falters.

Intellectually agile, thrillingly stylish...The Songs of the Kings effortlessly proves that modern life is the stuff of ancient myth.

Incandescent....One of the three most important British novelists at work today....It is impossible to read [this novel] without feeling an immediacy both unbearable and profound, as if this week's headlines were being incised into the conscience and the heart....Unsworth has combined several versions of the Iphigenia myth to set up an entrancing, frightening mystery. --Richard Eder"

Elegant, profound, and wonder-provoking....Unsworth's writing is unrivaled, he gets better and better, and his versatility is breathtaking. His novels are close to perfect in an imperfect literary world. --Ruth Rendell"

Intellectually agile, thrillingly stylish..."The Songs of the Kings" effortlessly proves that modern life is the stuff of ancient myth. "

Unsworth's story never falters. "

Detail so precise you can almost smell the cook fires....Almost magical capacity for literary time travel.--Neil Gordon

A beautifully measured entertainment given gravity by how accurately it reflects the present political zeal to control the media.

Brilliantly told. This short, sharp tale deserves to be on the shelves of revisionists and purists alike.

Barry Unsworth is the author of many novels, including SACRED HUNGER which was joint-winner of the 1992 Booker Prize. He lives in Italy.