Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller from the author of The Poppy
War
"Absolutely phenomenal. One of the most brilliant, razor-sharp books
I've had the pleasure of reading that isn't just an alternative
fantastical history, but an interrogative one; one that grabs colonial
history and the Industrial Revolution, turns it over, and shakes it
out." -- Shannon Chakraborty, bestselling author of The City of
Brass
From award-winning author R. F. Kuang comes Babel, a thematic
response to The Secret History and a tonal retort to Jonathan Strange
& Mr. Norrell that grapples with student revolutions, colonial
resistance, and the use of language and translation as the dominating
tool of the British empire.
Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of
betrayal.
1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London
by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin,
Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he'll enroll
in Oxford University's prestigious Royal Institute of Translation--also
known as Babel.
Babel is the world's center for translation and, more importantly,
magic. Silver working--the art of manifesting the meaning lost in
translation using enchanted silver bars--has made the British
unparalleled in power, as its knowledge serves the Empire's quest for
colonization.
For Robin, Oxford is a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But
knowledge obeys power, and as a Chinese boy raised in Britain, Robin
realizes serving Babel means betraying his motherland. As his studies
progress, Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy
Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to stopping imperial
expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and
opium, Robin must decide...
Can powerful institutions be changed from within, or does revolution
always require violence?
