Midnight Bell

‘Quite simply, one of the great writers of our time' - Colum McCannIt is 1842. On the morning of her 10th birthday, Lina sets out from home to collect her family's weekly bread ration ahead of the mid-morning curfew.Lina's city is under siege - occupied by a retreating army who have enclosed themselves within the city walls, the unlucky citizens now captive. In this atmosphere of mistrust and fear, none is more feared than the baker. Rumours fly about: he is a turncoat, an informer, a man who wields power over all those he feeds. And when - abruptly - the occupying armies depart, the baker finds himself surrounded by a population who needs someone on whom to enact retribution. But all is not as it seems . . .The Midnight Bell is a novel about how people behave at a time of crisis, and who history recognises as the heroes of war.Praise for Jim Crace: 'A writer of hallucinatory skill' - John Updike'Crace exults in the art of storytelling' - The Guardian'Jim Crace stands on his own ground among living English novelists' - Independent'A magician among British novelists' - Evening Standard'Jim Crace is a Titan of the modern English novel' - Irish Examiner'One of Britain's most distinguished and accomplished novelists' - Financial Times