From the Booker-shortlisted author of The Overstory and Bewilderment
Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2014
Pulitzer Winner
‘A virtuoso performance’ SUNDAY TIMES
‘Extraordinary and confounding, mind-spinning and wonderful’ INDEPENDENT
‘A magnificent and moving novel’ LOS ANGELES TIMES
Seventy-year-old avant-garde composer Peter Els opens the door one evening to find the police on his doorstep. His home microbiology lab – where he is conducting the latest experiment in his lifelong attempt to find musical patterns in surprising places – has aroused the suspicions of Homeland Security.
Panicked by the raid, Els turns fugitive, earning him the moniker ‘Bioterrorist Bach’. He hatches a daring plan to transform this disastrous collision with the security state into an unforgettable work of art that will reawaken its audience to the sounds all around it.
A gripping escape narrative filled with lyrical wonder, Orfeo is both a portrait of a creative, obsessive man, and a reflection on finding melodies in everyday life.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 384
Imprint: Penguin (Cornerstone)
Publication date: 30/09/2025
