Julian Barnes is perhaps the most brilliant and original novelist of modern Britain. And his novel A Premonition of the End won the Booker Prize, one of the most prestigious literary awards in the world. Perhaps Barnes’ main talent is his ability to play with styles and directions in his works easily and naturally. Subtle stylization and caustic irony, subtle lyricism and cynical sarcasm, aggressive toughness and cheerful mischief – Barnes can do all this and much more.
In the class of an elite school, where Tony Webster and his friends Colin and Alex, comes a newcomer – Adrian Finn. The inseparable trio quickly becomes a foursome, but Adrian keeps to himself: “We were always messing around and very rarely talked seriously. And our new classmate always talked seriously and very rarely joked around.” After school, the four swear eternal friendship – and for a long time they go in different directions; the fault of romantic experiences and adult worries, an unexpected tragedy and the desire to quickly put it out of your mind… And now Tony, forty years older, receives an unexpected letter from a lawyer and, starting to untangle the intricate tangle of causes and effects, realizes that the past, which seemed so simple and clear, conceals many shocking surprises…
In 2017, a film version of this novel is being released worldwide. The film stars Charlotte Rampling, Jim Broadbent, Michelle Dockery, Emily Mortimer and Jo Alwyn.
