THE #2 SUNDAY TIMES AND #1 NYT BESTSELLER ''One for Philip Pullman fans'' THE TIMES ''An ingenious fantasy about empire'' GUARDIAN ''Fans of THE SECRET HISTORY, this one is an automatic buy'' GLAMOUR ''Ambitious, sweeping and epic'' EVENING STANDARD Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal. Oxford, 1836. The city of dreaming spires. It is the centre of all knowledge and progress in the world. And at its centre is Babel, the Royal Institute of Translation. The tower from which all the power of the Empire flows. Orphaned in Canton and brought to England by a mysterious guardian, Babel seemed like paradise to Robin Swift. Until it became a prison... But can a student stand against an empire? An incendiary new novel from award-winning author R.F. Kuang about the power of language, the violence of colonialism, and the sacrifices of resistance. ''A masterpiece that resonates with power and knowledge. BABEL is a stark picture of the cruelty of empire, a distillation of dark academia, and a riveting blend of fantasy and historical fiction - a monumental achievement'' Samantha Shannon, author of THE PRIORY OF THE ORANGE TREE

The new book from the no. 1 New York Times and no. 2 Sunday Times bestselling author R.F. Kuang ''A riot'' PANDORA SYKES ''Razor-sharp'' TIME ''A wild ride'' STYLIST ''Darkly comic'' GQ ''Satirical and humorous'' COSMOPOLITAN Athena Liu is a literary darling and June Hayward is literally nobody. White lies When Athena dies in a freak accident, June steals her unpublished manuscript and publishes it as her own under the ambiguous name Juniper Song. Dark humour But as evidence threatens June''s stolen success, she will discover exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves. Deadly consequences... What happens next is entirely everyone else''s fault.