The Machine

By: James Smythe

Narrated by: Emma Gregory

Shortlisted for the Arthur C Clarke Award 2014, this is a Frankenstein tale for our time from one of the UK’s brightest new literary talents.

Vic returned from war tormented by his nightmares. His once happy marriage to Beth all but disintegrated. A machine promised salvation, purging him of all memory.

Now the machines are gone, declared too controversial, the side-effects too harmful. But within Beth’s flat is an ever-whirring black box. She knows that memories can be put back and that she can rebuild her husband piece by piece.

A Frankenstein tale for the 21st century, The Machine is a story of the indelibility of memory, the human cost of science and the horrors of love.

Critic reviews

‘Savage, intimate, inexorable’ Nick Harkaway

‘The Machine is the work of a young writer with a preternaturally powerful and distinctive voice’ Guardian

‘Phenomenal … simply unmissable’ Tor.com

‘Extraordinary’ Dazed & Confused

‘Reminiscent of Ian McEwan at his most macabre’
Will Wiles, author of Care of Wooden Floors