Editions

The Thief of Time

  • Imprint: Black Swan

  • ISBN: 9780552776158

  • Length: 528  Pages

  • Dimensions: 198mm x 33mm x 127mm

  • Weight: 357g

  • RRP: £9.99

The Thief of Time

Matthieu Zela has lived his life well. In fact, he's lived several lives well. Because Matthew Zela's life is characterised by one amazing fact: his body stopped ageing before the end of the eighteenth century.

Starting in 1758, a young Matthieu flees Paris after witnessing his mother's brutal murder. His only companions are his younger brother Tomas and one true love, Dominique Sauvet. The story of his life takes us from the French Revolution to 1920s Hollywood, from the Great Exhibition to the Wall Street Crash, and by the end of the twentieth century, Matthieu has been an engineer, a rogue, a movie mogul, a soldier, a financier, a lover to many, a cable TV executive and much more besides.

Brilliantly weaving history and personal experience, this is a dazzling story of love, murder, missed chances, treachery - and redemption.

  • Imprint: Black Swan

  • ISBN: 9780552776158

  • Length: 528  Pages

  • Dimensions: 198mm x 33mm x 127mm

  • Weight: 357g

  • RRP: £9.99

Reviews

  • An extraordinary début

    Sunday Express

  • A minor masterpiece

    Time Out

  • Boyne should be congratulated for his spirited take on an old theme

    Guardian

  • Boyne is a skilful storyteller, expertly weaving differing stories together

    Sunday Tribune

More from this Author

View all View all
View all View all

About the Author

John Boyne

John Boyne was born in Ireland in 1971. He is the author of eleven novels for adults, five for young readers and a collection of short stories. Perhaps best known for his 2006 multi-award-winning and bestselling book The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas, John's other novels, notably A History of Loneliness, The Heart's Invisible Furies, and A Ladder to the Sky have been widely praised and are international bestsellers. He lives in Dublin.

John Boyne

Read more

/content/dam/prh/articles/adults/2019/april/penguin-ireland-picks-970x415.jpg

Recommendations

4 Irish books we can’t wait to read this Spring

From John Boyne to Jan Carson, here are four books the Penguin Ireland team can’t wait to start reading this Spring.
/content/dam/prh/articles/adults/2019/march/ladder-to-the-sky-extract-card-smaller.png

Extracts

What if your favourite writer was a total sociopath? John Boyne delves into A Ladder to the Sky

John Boyne’s A Ladder to the Sky tells a timely tale of the lies, ambition and manipulation of a ruthless writer with great talent but no imagination. Maurice Swift, a would-be author who befriends an older novelist to further his career is the main character. Here, John Boyne introduces an extract by explaining his motivation.
/content/dam/prh/articles/archive/A_Ladder_to_the_Sky.jpg

Features

The Making of the A Ladder to the Sky audiobook

Have you ever fancied a sneak peek behind the mic of your favourite audiobook? Step in to studio with author John Boyne as he chats with the cast of his book, A Ladder to the Sky.

Our Use of Cookies

We use cookies on this site to enable certain parts of the site to function and to collect information about your use of the site so that we can improve our visitors’ experience.

For more on our cookies and changing your settings click here

Strictly Necessary

Strictly Necessary cookies enable core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility. You may disable these by changing your browser settings, but this may affect how the website functions. See More.

Analytics

Analytics cookies help us to improve our website by collecting and reporting information on how you use it. These cookies may be set by us or by third-party providers whose services we have added to our pages. See More.

Preferences & Features

Preference and Feature cookies allow our website to remember choices you make, such as your language preferences and any customisations you make to pages on our website during your visit. See More.

Targeting / Advertising

Targeting cookies are used to make advertising messages more relevant to you and your interests. They perform functions like preventing the same content from reappearing, ensuring ads are displayed and, in some cases, selecting content based on your interests. See More.