Ascent
  • Published: 18 June 2019
  • ISBN: 9780099468523
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 272
  • RRP: $22.99
Categories:

Ascent

From the creator of Bodyguard and Line of Duty

Formats & editions
EBook
1 Sep 2011
Paperback
18 Jun 2019
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A truly stunning novel of one man's dangerous obsession with immortality, from the BAFTA award-winning creator of Bodyguard and Line of Duty

A truly stunning novel of one man's dangerous obsession with immortality, from the BAFTA award-winning creator of Bodyguard and Line of Duty and co-creator of the graphic novel Sleeper.
ONE OF THE GUARDIAN'S '1000 NOVELS EVERYONE MUST READ'

'A completely gripping, read-at-once novel' The Times

Yefgenii Yeremin is a flyer and a phantom.

Destined to go down in Soviet history books as 'Ivan the Terrible', the most deadly fighter pilot of the Korean War, one moment of madness sees Yefgenii throwing his reputation to the wind. Exiled to a remote Arctic base, his name unknown and victories uncelebrated, he must endure a fate worse than death: anonymity.

But when a man arrives from Moscow's Space Committee in search of a volunteer prepared to sacrifice himself for his country, Yefgenii seizes his one last chance of immortality.
  • Published: 18 June 2019
  • ISBN: 9780099468523
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 272
  • RRP: $22.99
Categories:

About the author

Jed Mercurio

Jed Mercurio trained at the University of Birmingham Medical School and practised as a junior doctor before becoming a full-time writer in 1994. As a writer, producer and director his TV credits include the highly successful shows Cardiac Arrest, Bodies, Line of Duty and Bodyguard, as well as adaptions of Frankenstein and Lady Chatterley’s Lover. He has been described by the Telegraph as ‘the most successful writer working in television today’ and by the Independent as ‘the master of British Drama’.

Mercurio is the author of three novels. His first novel, Bodies, was chosen as one of the five best debuts of 2002 by the Guardian. In 2007 Mercurio published his second novel, Ascent, the story of a fictional Soviet fighter pilot and cosmonaut set against the background of the Korean War and the Space Race. Ascent was included in the Guardian’s list of ‘1000 Novels Everyone Must Read’ and a graphic novelization, illustrated by Wesley Robins, was published in 2011. Mercurio’s most recent novel, Amercian Adulterer, a fictionalization of President John F. Kennedy's infidelities, was published in 2009.

Also by Jed Mercurio

Ascent
Bodies
American Adulterer
See all

Praise for Ascent

A seat-of-the-pants ride through the life of top Soviet fighter ace with his sights set on the Moon, from an author whose sights are set just as high

Esquire

A Russian version of The Right Stuff... Riveting

Daily Telegraph

Ingenious

Time Out

A cross between adventure story and literary fiction, this is an unusual novel

Financial Times

One of the most potent and unusual works of literary fiction I've read in years... Mercurio's Yefgenii is as real as anyone you've ever cared about. And care you will

Michael Faber, Guardian

Ascent is a page turning story of a man's ambition to be the very best. Based on real events and using real people, it places this fictitious character in a period when space itself was there for the taking. Beautifully written, it's a book that deserves to be read

Angela Cooke, Daily Express

Streaks by at full throttle... truly exciting

Sunday Telegraph

Hold on tight and enjoy the ride... Tremendous stuff

Independent

Speaks volumes about heroism and the human condition... A taut, page-turning narrative

The Times

In moments of intense action, we're with this protagonist every inch of the way, through every thought, dive, ache, smell, itch, tast and gastric movement... vertiginously thrilling

Observer

A completely gripping, read-at-once novel

Erica Wagner, The Times
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