The Crash of Hennington

Love is political, obsessive and utterly strange in the first novel from the author of the Chaos Walking trilogy and new novel ‘More Than This’.

Love is political, obsessive and utterly strange in the first novel from the award-winning author of the Chaos Walking trilogy, ‘A Monster Calls’ and and new novel ‘More Than This’.

Welcome to the seaside metropolis of Hennington, where a mysterious herd of rhinoceros has wandered city streets for so long it’s become a civic feature, where the current mayor first met her husband on a nude beach, and where Jon Noth has returned after four decades to reclaim a lost love.

Unfortunately for him, that lost love is Cora Larsson, long-time mayor of Hennington, happily (and flexibly) married – and still not interested …

Reviews

‘Ménages á trois, miracles and thwarted love…This is a very humane and entertaining tale.’ Observer

‘Patrick Ness recreates the world as we know it, infusing it with a charm and whimsy that brings to mind Calvino and, of course, the Ionesco of “Rhinoceros”. This is a true changeling of a book, both funny and subversive.’ T.C. Boyle

‘I can’t remember reading a novel in such a compulsive, leave-me-in-peace way since “Tales of the City”. Ness weaves sharp dialogue and outrageous plot-weaving with hallucinatory, apocalyptic material worthy of Russell Hoban or Philip Pullman, but the unpredictable result is entirely original. More please!’ Patrick Gale

'A wholly original, hugely enjoyable first novel … Interweaving gorgeously fresh characters and a wagonload of parallel plots, this is the product of a heart-warmingly deranged new voice.' Guardian

‘An ebullient, hectic, surreal satire of an alien yet familiar world.’ The Times

About the author

Patrick Ness is the author of seven novels and a short-story collection. His five novels for teenagers have won the Carnegie Medal twice, the Costa Children's Fiction Prize, and has been shortlisted for the LA Times Book Prize and the Arthur C Clarke Award. His first adult novel, ‘The Crash of Hennington’, and short story collection, ‘Topics About Which I Know Nothing’, are being proudly reissued by HarperCollins. Patrick's works have been translated into 25 languages and have sold over a million copies worldwide. Born in America, he lives in London.