A River Called Time
Courttia Newland
Available as Hardback, eBook, Downloadable audio
A monumental speculative fiction story of love, loyalty, politics and conscience set in parallel Londons
LONGLISTED FOR THE GORDON BURN PRIZE
A monumental speculative fiction story of love, loyalty, politics and conscience set in parallel Londons
The Ark was built to save the lives of the many, but rapidly became a refuge for the elite, the entrance closed without warning.
Years after the Ark was cut off from the world, a chance of survival within its confines is granted to a select few who can prove their worth. Among their number is Markriss Denny, whose path to future excellence is marred only by a closely guarded secret: without warning, his spirit leaves his body, allowing him to see and experience a world far beyond his physical limitations.
Once inside the Ark, Denny learns of another with the same power, whose existence could spell catastrophe for humanity. He is forced into a desperate race to understand his abilities, and in doing so uncovers the truth about the Ark, himself and the people he thought he once knew.
Set in an alternate world where slavery and colonialism never happened, Newland’s staggering novel is both a timely exploration of social inequality and a story about love, loyalty and the search for the truth.
“Courttia’s writing is rich with passion and humanity. He manages to convey great depth without ever losing his lightness of touch. A rare feat only reserved for the few”
Steve Mcqueen
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“Courttia Newland is a formidable writer … extraordinary … Newland offers a brilliant remix of history … This may be a work of speculative fiction but its critical lens is present and prescient”
financial Times
“A dystopian multiverse imagined at thrilling scale … extraordinary … the excitement lies largely in its ideas about power and personal responsibility”
times Literary Supplement
“A vast and wildly ambitious piece of speculative fiction that asks what the world would look like if slavery and colonialism never existed”
observer
“If you want to know the story of Britain, it’s really important to read Newland. There’s a reason why the Oscar-winning McQueen is working with him”
Lemn Sissay
observer
Courttia Newland
Courttia Newland is the author of seven books including his much lauded debut, The Scholar. His latest novel, The Gospel According to Cane, was published in 2013. He co-edited The Penguin Book of New Black Writing in Britain, and his short stories have featured in various anthologies and been broadcast on BBC Radio 4. He was shortlisted for the 2007 CWA Dagger in the Library Award and the 2010 Alfred Fagon Award. In 2016 he was also awarded the Tayner Barbers Award for science fiction writing and the Roland Rees Bursary for playwriting. As a screenwriter, he has written episodes of Steve McQueen’s 2020 BBC series Small Axe.
@courttianewland
‘Rooted in a decolonised narrative style where every turn of phrase brings forth the weight of its cultural implications, A River Called Time is a deeply thoughtful, surprising and rewarding read … In short, much of the novel is less an imagined reality than a conditional one: a status quo that could well exist, had major historical events panned out differently. The achievement of Newland is to convey this reality so convincingly.’
Charlie Stone
The Arts Desk
Courttia Newland discusses astral projection, rejection, racism, Small Axe and his new novel, A River Called Time with the Guardian
‘When I was growing up I used to have these episodes where you wake up and feel like you can’t breathe, you can’t see, you’re almost having a seizure, a dreaming seizure. I’d fight it and try to wake up – but this one time, around 1997, I didn’t fight it and I had an out of body experience, like I actually rose from my body. I could see somebody in the room sitting next to the bed. The experience stuck in my head and I thought, “Let me find out what’s been happening.” I found all these books saying it was astral projection. And that was it. I knew I wanted to write about astral projection.’
Ashish Ghadiali
Guardian
‘To me, this book thematically is all about the importance of truth telling, particularly in uncertain times … And I think in each parallel Markriss has to tackle that, whether he should be involved in truth telling or not’ Courttia Newland speaks to Front Row about his new novel, A River Called Time
Courttia Newland
Front Row