John Lanchester Books

This book explores the mysteries of the Underground, detailing its significance to London and beyond, while answering questions about the Tube, tube drivers, and where to find driver-point-of-view videos.

The biggest problem for outsiders in the world of economics is that most of the time, we don't know what the hell the insiders are talking about. To know that, you have to understand the words they're using. The language of economic elites can be complex, jargon-filled and completely baffling. But if we don't know what they're talking about, we're making our decisions at the ballot box on insufficient information.

There's probably a word in German for that feeling you get when you can understand something while it's being explained to you, but lose hold of the explanation as soon as it stops. A lot of writing about the credit crunch has that effect. This title makes it possible for all of us to grasp how we found ourselves in this predicament.

For most people, the reasons for the sudden collapse of our economy still remain obscure. I.O.U. is the story of how we came to experience such a complete financial disaster, starting with the magical proliferation of credit that led to an explosion of lending on the global and local landscapes of banking and finance. Viewing the crisis through the lens of politics, culture, and contemporary history-from the invention and widespread misuse of financial instruments to the culpability of subprime mortgages-Lanchester deftly draws conclusions on the limitations of financial and governmental regulation, capitalism's deepest flaw, and most important, on the plain and simple facts of human nature where cash is concerned. With newly updated, superbly written reportage, Lanchester delivers a shrewd perspective and a digestible, comprehensive analysis that connects the dots for expert and casual reader alike. Part economic primer, part fiscal and historical analysis, I.O.U. is an eye-opener of a book.

Fragrant Harbour is the story of four people whose intertwined lives span Asia's last seventy years.

The biggest problem for outsiders in the world of economics is that most of the time, we don't know what the hell the insiders are talking about. To know that, you have to understand the words they're using. This book explains everything from high-frequency trading to the difference between bullshit and nonsense.

An impeccable, Epicurean Englishman and lifelong Francophile recounts his past pleasures in Provence, in a meditation on food, vodka, and restaurant-going that becomes a dark satire on hedonism. 75,000 first printing. $100,000 ad/promo. First serial, Granta. Tour.

The residents of Pepys Road, London - a banker and his shopaholic wife, an elderly woman dying of a brain tumour, the Pakistani family who run the local shop, the young football star from Senegal and his minder - all receive anonymous postcards with a simple message: We Want What You Have. Who is behind it? What do they want? As the mystery of the postcards deepens, the world around Pepys Road is turned upside down by the financial crash and all of its residents' lives change beyond recognition over the course of the next year. From the bestselling author of Whoops! and How to Speak Money comes a post-financial crisis, state-of-the-nation novel told with compassion, humour and unflinching truth.

An NPR Favorite Books of the Year and Financial Times Best Fiction of the Year selection. The best-selling author of The Debt to Pleasure and Capital returns with a chilling fable for our time.

Selfie sticks with demonic powers. Cold calls from the dead. And the creeping suspicion that none of this is real. Reality, and Other Stories is a gathering of deliciously chilling entertainments from John Lanchester, the Booker- nominated author of The Wall and Capital.