The Crash of Hennington
Love is political, obsessive and utterly strange in the first novel from the author of the Chaos Walking trilogy and new novel ‘More Than This’.
Love is political, obsessive and utterly strange in the first novel from the award-winning author of the Chaos Walking trilogy, ‘A Monster Calls’ and and new novel ‘More Than This’.
Welcome to the seaside metropolis of Hennington, where a mysterious herd of rhinoceros has wandered city streets for so long it’s become a civic feature, where the current mayor first met her husband on a nude beach, and where Jon Noth has returned after four decades to reclaim a lost love.
Unfortunately for him, that lost love is Cora Larsson, long-time mayor of Hennington, happily (and flexibly) married – and still not interested …
”'Ménages á trois, miracles and thwarted love…This is a very humane and entertaining tale.” - Observer
”'Patrick Ness recreates the world as we know it, infusing it with a charm and whimsy that brings to mind Calvino and, of course, the Ionesco of 'Rhinoceros'. This is a true changeling of a book, both funny and subversive.” - T.C. Boyle
”'I can’t remember reading a novel in such a compulsive, leave-me-in-peace way since 'Tales of the City'. Ness weaves sharp dialogue and outrageous plot-weaving with hallucinatory, apocalyptic material worthy of Russell Hoban or Philip Pullman, but the unpredictable result is entirely original. More please!” - Patrick Gale
'A wholly original, hugely enjoyable first novel … Interweaving gorgeously fresh characters and a wagonload of parallel plots, this is the product of a heart-warmingly deranged new voice.' Guardian -
”'An ebullient, hectic, surreal satire of an alien yet familiar world.” - The Times