The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August

April 21, 2014
In this novel, Claire North, the pseudonym of an unnamed British author, focuses on the life of Harry August, a man who dies only to be reborn as the same person. The illegitimate son of a wealthy landowner, Harry's life is challenging not only because he is one of the kalachakra, a small group of people who have the ability to relive their lives, but also because he is a mnemonic, an individual who can remember all the details of their past lives. Harrys remarkable abilities make him the victim to all types of people throughout the novel, such as Franklin Phearson, the psychologist who tortures August until he tells him all about the future. North's fast-paced novel gets bogged down by long-winded explanations of time travel. Despite this minor flaw, the novel contains real heart. When Harry confronts his distant father or interacts with an old romance, we are reminded of true love's power and timelessness.

Catherine Webb, writing as Claire North, looks at the history of the twentieth century through the the character of Harry August. In an introspective tone, narrator Peter Kenny recounts the stories of August's many lives, 15 to be exact, each one beginning with his birth in 1919 to the same parents. The book opens with his eleventh life, during which he learns that the world is prematurely coming to an end. So he sets out to discover answers to life's important questions over the course of his next four lives. Kenny's narration creates an atmosphere of intimacy with the listener. He sounds earnest without being somber and conveys August's enthusiasm for exploring questions about the meaning of life without sounding ponderous. J.E.M. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2015 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

Starred review from March 1, 2014
Harry August isn't human. Well, that's not quite accurate. He is human but a different sort of human from the rest of us: he was born (in the ladies' washroom of a train station in England in 1919), he lives a certain number of years, and he diesand then he's born again, right back where he started, and a handful of years later his memories of his first life return. Harry is, like a few others, a kalachakra, an immortal who is constantly reborn, each time with all the memories of his previous lives. This wonderful novel, narrated by Harry, ranges back and forth in time as he recounts episodes from his various lives, but it's all held together by a compelling mystery involving nothing less than the end of the world itself (a thousand years in the future). Beautifully written and structured, the book should be a big hit with SF fans. The pseudonymous author's name is being kept secret, but fans of SF and fantasy authors China Mieville, Christopher Priest, and Adam Roberts might note a stylistic similarity, especially in the novel's elegant prose. Whoever Claire North turns out to be, he or she has written a remarkable book.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)