This Census-Taker: A Novel

This Census-Taker: A Novel

<b>For readers of George Saunders, Kelly Link, David Mitchell, and Karen Russell, <i>This Census-Taker</i> is a stunning, uncanny, and profoundly moving novella from multiple-award-winning and bestselling author China Miéville.</b><br /> <b> </b><br /> In a remote house on a hilltop, a lonely boy witnesses a profoundly traumatic event. He tries—and fails—to flee. Left alone with his increasingly deranged parent, he dreams of safety, of joining the other children in the town below, of escape.<br />  <br /> When at last a stranger knocks at his door, the boy senses that his days of isolation might be over.<br />  <br /> But by what authority does this man keep the meticulous records he carries? What is the purpose behind his questions? Is he friend? Enemy? Or something else altogether?<br />  <br /> Filled with beauty, terror, and strangeness, <i>This Census-Taker</i> is a poignant and riveting exploration of memory and identity.<br /><br /><b>Advance praise for <i>This Census-Taker</i></b><br /> <b><i> </i></b><br /> “A thought-provoking fairy tale for adults . . . [<i>This Census-Taker</i>] resembles the narrative style, quirkiness, and plotting found in the works of Karen Russell, Aimee Bender, or Steven Millhauser.”<b>—<i>Booklist</i></b><br /> <b><i> </i></b><br /> “Brief and dreamlike . . . a deceptively simple story whose plot could be taken as a symbolic representation of an aspect of humanity as big as an entire society and as small as a single soul.”<b>—<i>Kirkus Reviews</i></b><br /><br /><b>Praise for China Miéville</b><br /> <b> </b><br /> “Even when he is orbiting somewhere in a galaxy too far away for normal human comprehension . . . Miéville is dazzling.”<b>—<i>The New York Times</i></b><br />  <br /> “[Miéville’s] wit dazzles, his humour is lively, and the pure vitality of his imagination is astonishing.”<b>—Ursula K. Le Guin</b><br /><br /><br /><i>From the Hardcover edition.</i>