Annihilation

<p><b>A <i>Daily Express</i> Book of the Year<br><br>''The most important novelist to have been publishing in all of Europe over the past three decades'' –</b> <b><i>The Sunday Times</i><br><br>''An extended meditation on human frailty and the lack of spirituality in the Western world . . . Houellebecq displays compassion and empathy, and a belief in the redemptive power of love'' – <i>New Statesman</i></b><br><br><b>It is 2027. France is in a state of economic decline and moral decay.</b><br><br>As the country plunges into a closely-fought presidential campaign, the French state falls victim to a series of mysterious and unsettling cyberattacks. The sophisticated nature of the attacks leaves the best computer scientists at the DGSI – the French counter-terrorism agency – scrambling for answers.<br><br>An advisor to the country’s Finance Minister, Paul Raison is close to the heart of government. His wife Prudence is a Treasury official, while his father Édouard, now retired, has spent his career working for the DGSI. When Édouard has a stroke, his children have an opportunity to repair their strained relationships, as they determine to free their father from the medical centre where he is wasting away.<br><br><b>Michel Houellebecq’s <i>Annihilation</i> reveals new sides to his writing, adding compassion and tenderness to the emotions of rage and irony that have powered both him and his earlier works to international fame.<br><br>''We have no one to match Houellebecq'' – <i>The Daily Telegraph</i></b><br><br><i>Translated from the French by Shaun Whiteside<br><br>_Annihilation</i>_{was a #1 <i>Livres Hebdo</i> bestseller in France w/c 10/01/2022, and a #1 <i>Spiegel </i>bestseller in Germany w/c 24/01/2022}</p>