J. W. Ironmonger

Shortlisted for the 2012 Costa First Novel prize. 'Maximilian Ponder is lying face up, dead, on the dining table in his own front room. This is something you really should know, right from the start. Max would also have wanted you to know that this is a Henri II style, French, walnut extending dining table, standing on solid turned legs with fretwork decor to the middle, also with ebony and sandalwood inlay, designed by the French furniture maker Nicolas Rastin and probably dating from around 1900...' Maximilian Ponder shut himself away for thirty years in an attempt to record every memory he ever had. Now he lies dead, surrounded by his magnum opus - The Catalogue - an exhaustive set of notebooks and journals that he hopes will form the map of one human mind. But before his friend Adam Last can call the police and inform them of Max's death, one rather gruesome task remains in order for Max's project to be complete. Interspersed with sections from The Catalogue, Adam tells the story of the man he knew - a man whose life changed dramatically the day he buried a dead labrador and fought a duel with his father. What emerges is both the story of a friendship, and also of a lifelong obsession, a quest to understand the human mind, memory, and what constitutes a life.

The Notable Brain of Maximilian Ponder

Have you ever experienced a coincidence that seems too strange to be true? And is there such a thing as fate? THE COINCIDENCE AUTHORITY is a novel about love in a random universe, about two lost souls each with a quest to understand the secret patterns of their lives. From the windswept tranquillity of a Manx village to the brutal abduction of child soldiers in Africa, the lives of Thomas Post and Azalea Lewis intertwine as they try to untangle the mystery of Azalea's past. A mystery that began with a seagull and four pieces of bread...

The Coincidence Authority

What determines the course of our lives? Chance . . . or destiny? On Midsummer's Day, 1982, three-year-old Azalea Ives is found alone at a seaside fairground. One year later, her mother's body washes up on a beach—her link to Azalea unnoticed. On Midsummer's Day, 1992, her adoptive parents are killed in a Ugandan rebel uprising; Azalea is narrowly rescued by a figure from her past. Terrified that she, too, will meet her fate on Midsummer's Day, Azalea approaches Thomas Post, an expert in debunking coincidences. Azalea's past, he insists, is random—but as Midsummer's Day approaches, he worries that she may bring fate upon herself.

A Novel

Coincidence

Notable Brain of Maximillian Ponder

Thomas Post is an expert on coincidences. He's an authority. People come to see him, to ask him if he can explain strange events that have befallen them, and he can always explain these things away. We poor humans, he would say, have a tendency to make patterns out of random shapes, or to construct meaning from the random behaviour of the universe. But one day Thomas gets a visit from Azalea Lewis, and his world will never be the same again. For Azalea's coincidences seem to go off the scale. The lives of Thomas and Azalea become entwined, their destinies entangled. And now, with Azalea apparently dead in a foreign land, Thomas must reassemble the pieces of her life in search for the patterns that drove it. And that means he must try to unravel the coincidences that so afflicted her.

Eines Morgens retten die Bewohner des idyllischen Fischerdorfs St. Piran einen jungen Mann aus dem Wasser. Alle kümmern sich rührend um ihn: der pensionierte Arzt Dr. Books, der Strandgutsammler Kenny Kennet, die Romanautorin Demelza Trevarrick und Polly, die hübsche Frau des Pastors. Doch keiner von ihnen ahnt, wie existenziell ihre Gemeinschaft vermutlich bedroht ist. Denn Joe ist aus London geflohen, wo er einen Kollaps in Gang gesetzt hat. Aber steht wirklich das Ende der ganzen Zivilisation bevor? Und was ist mit dem Wal, der in der Bucht von St. Piran viel zu nah am Strand schwimmt?

Johann von Bülow liest John Ironmonger, Der Wal und das Ende der Welt

"This is the way to execute a man. Listen up. Do not shut your eyes as you shoot-the man may move. Do not look into his eyes. He may attempt to seduce you. Do not give him time to speak. Do not shout a warning. Be swift. Go into the chamber. Kill the man. Drag his body to the incineration chute. And then leave with a smile. I've been there, Berlin Qualye. I know that if my advice were followed then no executioner would ever lose either her life, her maidenhood, or her mind." In a world laid waste by biological war, can one close family really change the course of history? And can one disturbed woman mastermind a plan that will turn utopia upside down?

J. W. Ironmonger

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