Publisher Description

All That is Solid Melts into Air by Darragh McKeon is an exceptionally moving novel of interwoven lives, set amidst one of the most iconic disasters in living memory.
'Daring, ambitious, epic, moving' Colm T ibin

Coloured sheets of paper fall from the sky. This is their first indication that something serious has happened. Each sheet bears a message- you have three hours to evacuate, bring only one suitcase. From their balconies they can see a dark column of smoke rising above the nuclear plant. For the people of Pripyat, these are the last moments they will spend in their homes. For a child piano prodigy, a dissident factory worker, a broken-hearted surgeon and unknowing others, this disaster will change their lives forever . . .
'Shocking, vivid . . . sweeps with epic confidence across lives' Sunday Independent
'Astonishing . . . A page-turner' Irish Times
'A stunning debut. The reader cannot help but root for a boy genius who, coming from a line of damaged men is now the only hope his mother and aunt have to sustain them' Guardian
Darragh McKeon was born in 1979 and grew up in the midlands of Ireland. He has worked as a theatre director, and lives in New York. This is his first novel.

Notes

A mesmerising novel, nine years in the making, set around the Chernobyl disaster of 1986. Comparable to The People's Act Of Love by James Meek, and Colum McCann's Let The Great World Spin.

Author Biography

Darragh McKeon was born in 1979 and grew up in the midlands of Ireland. He has worked as a theatre director, and his writing has been shortlisted for the Francis McManus Short Story Award and the Filmbase/RTE Short Film Award. This is his first novel.

Review

Fascinating, with ... the ferocious grip of a rollercoaster thriller ... this book is beautifully written ... generous with elegantly turned phrases ... Skilfully crafted, thoughtful, poetic, well-judged ... [a] flawless pearl * Irish Independent * A book to be devoured, tragic and funny and sad and beautiful and sensual and shocking and, ultimately, utterly transcendent ... crackles with the whip-smart propulsion of a thriller, while immersing its reader in the rich inner turmoils of its characters * Image * An outstanding debut novel ... portraying inconceivable horrors and acts of incredible beauty in luminously understated prose ... McKeon makes us care ... skilfully drawing us into their worlds before and after the explosion ... devastating * Metro * His description of the explosion at the Ukrainian nuclear plant is a stylistic high point ... recalls Don DeLillo's Underworld ... disturbing ... convincing ... a tense denouement * Independent * Powerful and moving ... a supremely accomplished social novel ... What makes McKeon's vision so compelling is that the system this novel describes is not merely Russian, nor communist, but universal -- John Burnside * Guardian * Brilliantly imagined, exhilarating in its sweep; McKeon creates a thrilling appearance of ease, while he delves deep and forges new territory for the contemporary novel. Daring, generous and beautifully written, All That is Solid Melts into Air marks the beginning of a truly significant career. I cannot say it loud enough: McKeon is here to stay -- Colum McCann This daring and ambitious novel blends historical epic and love story with a moving description of the Chernobyl disaster and the fall of the Soviet Union. A book rich with resonance far beyond its historical moment -- Colm Toibin

Review Text

This daring and ambitious novel blends historical epic and love story with a moving description of the Chernobyl disaster and the fall of the Soviet Union. A book rich with resonance far beyond its historical moment

Review Quote

This daring and ambitious novel blends historical epic and love story with a moving description of the Chernobyl disaster and the fall of the Soviet Union. A book rich with resonance far beyond its historical moment

Promotional "Headline"

An exceptionally moving reinvention of the great Russian novel

Details