The Sense of an Ending

The Man Booker Prize Winner 2011

Key Note: A brilliant short novel from a writer at the very height of his powers.

Key Features

• A powerful, unsettling and beautifully crafted new novel from one of England's greatest contemporary writers
• Over 400,000 copies of his last novel, Arthur & George sold across all editions
• All Julian Barnes' backlist is now available in Vintage, rejacketed in the beautiful and unique series style

About the Book: The Sense of an Ending

Tony Webster and his clique first met Adrian Finn at school. Sex-hungry and book-hungry, they would navigate the girl-less sixth form together, trading in affectations, in-jokes, rumour and wit. Maybe Adrian was a little more serious than the others, certainly more intelligent, but they all swore to stay friends for life.

Now Tony is in middle age. He's had a career and a single marriage, a calm divorce. He's certainly never tried to hurt anybody. Memory, though, is imperfect. It can always throw up surprises, as a lawyer's letter is about to prove.

The Sense of an Ending is the story of one man coming to terms with the mutable past. Laced with trademark precision, dexterity and insight, it is the work of one of the world's most distinguished writers.

About the Author: Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes is the author of ten previous novels, including Metroland, Flaubert's Parrot, A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters and Arthur & George; three books of short stories, Cross Channel, The Lemon Table and Pulse; and also three collections of journalism, Letters from London, Something to Declare, and The Pedant in the Kitchen.

His work has been translated into more than thirty languages. In France he is the only writer to have won both the Prix Medicis (for Flaubert's Parrot) and the Prix Femina (for Talking it Over). He was awarded the Austrian State Prize for European Literature in 2004 and the David Cohen Prize for Literature in 2011. He lives in London.

Reviews

'Packs quite an emotional punch... Julian Barnes unravels the mystery with masterly skill. He springs surprise after surprise without stooping to sensationalism in a crisp, engaging tale' - Max Davidson, Daily Mail

'Written in beautifully cadenced prose, it is a mature writer's reflections on love and marriage... on family and friendship, on work and death' - Time Out

'There is no catastrophe, simply a dawning awareness of the past, its consequences and its meaning for the present. It is a familiar narrative structure, but in the hands of the master-wordsmith that Barnes has become, the effect is cumulatively overwhelming... A compelling, disturbing and profoundly moving story of human fallibility' - Daniel Johnson, Standpoint

'It is a perfect novel of positively European economy and power (shades of Schnitzler, shades of Camus)... It is beyond the wit and depth of any current British writer' - Giles Coran, Times