The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios: And Other Stories

This superb collection, hailed for its power, compassion and elegance, takes in the wide sweep of human experience. From the last hours of a condemned man, to the imaginary life of an AIDS patient, to the first performance of a bizarre new symphony, Yann Martel’s stories are moving, thought-provoking and as inventive in form as they are timeless in content. They display the startling mix of dazzle and depth that has made him an international phenomenon.

Reviews of The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios: And Other Stories

* These stories were the proving ground of Martel's trademarks: a wild imaginative scope, unembarrassed religiosity, and technique that reads like the sweeping aside of "technique" to share startling intimacies and emotional truths. Above all, there's a sense of humour that teeters like a high-wire artist above a torrent of whimsy. — Colin Donald * One of the outstanding properties of Martel's writing here is what I can only characterise as affection: a steady, sober warmth towards his characters and their situation which engages pity while staying, at least most of the time, on the right side of sentimentality. — Sam Leith * As in Life of Pi, you're not always sure if you are in a tangible world, or a parallel universe. The fantastical, whether worldly or ethereal, is Martel's home ground. In these stories he inhabits it with the ease of a writer for whom, quite clearly, "only the imaginary must count". — Rosemary Goring Herald * A small masterpiece … A serious and convincing work that demands to be read Guardian