We Are Now Beginning Our Descent
James Meek
Available as Paperback
From the bestselling author of The People’s Act of Love
At the dawn of the twenty-first century Adam Kellas finds himself hurled on a journey between continents and cultures. In his quest from the war-torn mountains of Afghanistan to the elegant dinner tables of north London and then the marshlands of the American South, only the memory of the beautiful, elusive Astrid offers the possibility of hope.
With all the explosive drama of The People’s Act of Love, this is a spellbinding tale of folly and the pursuit of love from one of today’s most talented and visionary writers.
“Astonishing. A love story that owes everything to the great collision of Osama bin Laden and Bush Jr’s foreign policy. An intensely flavoured excavation of our times … wholly original.”
the Times
See more reviews
“A brilliantly constructed contemporary novel, illuminated with wit and intelligence on almost every page.”
daily Mail
“Damnably hard to put down, with the momentum and trajectory of a well-aimed rocket. A book to keep one reading through the small hours. Terrific.”
Jonathan Raban
london Review Of Books
“A truthful and powerful novel about love, friendship and the struggle to be true in a world that has lost its grip on certainties.”
new Statesman
“Compelling and admirable … Kellas is one of the more intriguing anti-heroes of recent fiction.”
Matt Thorne
sunday Telegraph
James Meek
James Meek was born in London in 1962 and grew up in Dundee. We Are Now Beginning Our Descent is his fourth novel. His previous books include Drivetime (1995) and The People’s Act of Love (2005) which won the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize, the SAC Book of the Year Award, was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and has been translated into more than twenty languages. He has published two collections of short stories, Last Orders (1992) and The Museum of Doubt (2000), which was shortlisted for a Macmillan Silver Pen award.
He has worked as a journalist since 1985. He now lives in London. His reporting from Iraq and about Guantánamo Bay won a number of British and international awards. In the autumn of 2001 he reported for the Guardian from Afghanistan on the war against the Taliban and the liberation of Kabul.