NEW YORK TIMESBESTSELLER From the Booker Prizewinning, bestselling author ofAtonementandSaturday,a genre-bending new novel full of secrets and surprises; an immersive exploration, across time and history, of what can ever be truly known

It gave me so much pleasure I sometimes felt like laughing. . . . Its a sophisticated entertainment of a high order. The New York Times

2014: At a dinner for close friends and colleagues, renowned poet Francis Blundy honors his wifes birthday by reading aloud a new poem dedicated to her, A Corona for Vivien. Much wine is drunk as the guests listen, and a delicious meal is consumed. Little does anyone gathered around the candlelit table know that for generations to come people will speculate about the message of this poem, the only copy of which goes missing, leading to an endurin