Vernon Subutex One
Virginie Despentes
We send all orders via Royal Mail: within the UK, choose from 1st Class, 2nd Class or Special Delivery; for the rest of the world, International Standard or International Tracked. Delivery and packaging charges are calculated automatically at the checkout.
To collect orders in person from the Bookshop, choose Click and Collect at the checkout.
Recommended by Lily
‘This fast-paced and scrutinizing novel set in Paris is all at once retro and very, very modern; hip and also horrifying. Frank Wynne does a great job with the translation. I can’t wait to read the next two books in the trilogy.’
From the publisher
Translated from the French by Frank Wynne
**SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL 2018**
WHO IS VERNON SUBUTEX?
An urban legend.
A fall from grace.
The mirror who reflects us all.
Vernon Subutex was once the proprietor of Revolver, an infamous music shop in Bastille. His legend spread throughout Paris. But by the 2000s his shop is struggling. With his savings gone, his unemployment benefit cut, and the friend who had been covering his rent suddenly dead, Vernon Subutex finds himself down and out on the Paris streets.
He has one final card up his sleeve. Even as he holds out his hand to beg for the first time, a throwaway comment he once made on Facebook is taking the internet by storm. Vernon does not realise this, but the word is out: Vernon Subutex has in his possession the last filmed recordings of Alex Bleach, the famous musician and Vernon's benefactor, who has only just died of a drug overdose. A crowd of people from record producers to online trolls and porn stars are now on Vernon's trail.