The Master

Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize

By: Colm Tóibín

Narrated by: Ralph Cosham

Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, a remarkable novel about Henry James, the American-born novelist and a connoisseur of exile.

'A triumph' – The Observer
'A masterly achievement' – The Independent

In January 1895 Henry James anticipates the opening of his first play, Guy Domville, in London. The production fails, and he returns, chastened and humiliated, to his writing desk. The result is a string of masterpieces, but they are produced at a high personal cost.

In The Master Colm Tóibín, author of Brooklyn and Long Island, captures the exquisite anguish of a man who circulated in the grand parlours and palazzos of Europe. Who was astonishingly vibrant and alive in his art, and yet whose attempts at intimacy inevitably failed him and those he tried to love. It is a powerful account of the hazards of putting the life of the mind before affairs of the heart.

Part of the Picador Collection, a series showcasing the best of modern literature.

Critic reviews

An audacious, profound, and wonderfully intelligent book. (Hermione Lee)

A marvel of lightly worn research and modulated tone. (John Updike)

A must read. Colm Tóibín has not only written a spectacular novel he has found a way to pay tribute to Henry James. We should all be so gifted and so lucky. (Alice Sebold, author of The Lovely Bones and Lucky)

. Extraordinary - truly wonderful

I have read Colm Toibins novels but this is the first of his ‘biographical’ books - and I am in even greater awe of his writing. I loved Henry James books but never knew much about him. I feel toibin literally ‘channeled’ him - in the parts which obviously are imagined - so that it all felt completely alive and visualised and honoured the great writer perfectly. His description of the deaths of Constance and his sister were excruciatingly sad - and beautifully and sensitively described. I’m now going to read his book about Thomas Mann.
Wonderful!