Departure(s) is a book about many things, including: A man called Stephen and a woman called Jean, who fall in love when they are young and again when they are old A Jack Russell called Jimmy, famous for his good behaviour The mischievous nature of memory The aging body, and how it begins to fail Taking our chances, facing our fate How we find happiness in this life How a departure can also be an arrival And when it is time to say goodbye

Autorentext

Julian Barnes is the author of fourteen novels, including The Sense of an Ending, which won the 2011 Booker Prize, and Sunday Times bestsellers The Noise of Time and The Only Story. He has also written three books of short stories, four collections of essays and five works of non-fiction, including Nothing to Be Frightened Of and the Sunday Times number one bestseller Levels of Life. He was awarded the David Cohen Prize for lifetime contribution to literature in 2011, and the Légion d'honneur in 2017.

Klappentext

**Departure(s) is a work of fiction - but that doesn't mean it's not true.

'An elegant,thoughtful final book' THE TIMES**
'His "last book" ... proves one of his best' DAILY TELEGRAPH
'Metafictional, moving, unmistakably Barnes' OBSERVER

Departure(s) is the story of a man called Stephen and a woman called Jean, who fall in love when they are young and again when they are old. It is the story of an elderly Jack Russell called Jimmy, enviably oblivious to his own mortality.

It is also the story of how the body fails us, whether through age, illness, accident or intent. And it is the story of how experiences fade into anecdotes, and then into memory. Does it matter if what we remember really happened? Or does it just matter that it mattered enough to be remembered?

It begins at the end of life - but it doesn't end there. Ultimately, it's about the only things that ever really mattered: how we find happiness in this life, and when it is time to say goodbye.

'One of our finest *writers... Departure(s) can only polish his reputation' DAILY EXPRESS*

'He hasgiven his career a triumphant ending' FINANCIAL TIMES

'Moving*, engaging... explores the effects of time on love' INDEPENDENT*