🎉 Up to 70% Off Selected ItemsShop Sale
Babel by R.F. Kuang
HomeStore

Babel by R.F. Kuang

Babel by R.F. Kuang

Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller from the author of The Poppy War

“Absolutely phenomenal. One of the most brilliant, razor-sharp books I've had the pleasure of reading that isn't just an alternative fantastical history, but an interrogative one; one that grabs colonial history and the IndustrialRevolution, turns it over, and shakes it out.” -- Shannon Chakraborty, bestselling author of The City of Brass

From award-winning author R. F. Kuang comes Babel, a thematic response to The Secret History and a tonal retort to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell that grappleswith student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of language and translation as the dominating tool of the British empire.

Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.

1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese,all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation—also known as Babel.

Babel is the world's center for translation and, more importantly, magic. Silver working—the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars—has made the British unparalleled in power, as its knowledge serves the Empire’s quest for colonization.

For Robin, Oxford is a utopiadedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge obeys power, and as a Chinese boy raised in Britain, Robin realizes serving Babel means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress, Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to stopping imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide…

Can powerful institutions be changedfrom within, or does revolution always require violence?

Paperback.

 

$4.72

Original: $13.48

-65%
Babel by R.F. Kuang

$13.48

$4.72

Babel by R.F. Kuang

Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller from the author of The Poppy War

“Absolutely phenomenal. One of the most brilliant, razor-sharp books I've had the pleasure of reading that isn't just an alternative fantastical history, but an interrogative one; one that grabs colonial history and the IndustrialRevolution, turns it over, and shakes it out.” -- Shannon Chakraborty, bestselling author of The City of Brass

From award-winning author R. F. Kuang comes Babel, a thematic response to The Secret History and a tonal retort to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell that grappleswith student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of language and translation as the dominating tool of the British empire.

Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.

1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese,all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation—also known as Babel.

Babel is the world's center for translation and, more importantly, magic. Silver working—the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars—has made the British unparalleled in power, as its knowledge serves the Empire’s quest for colonization.

For Robin, Oxford is a utopiadedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge obeys power, and as a Chinese boy raised in Britain, Robin realizes serving Babel means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress, Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to stopping imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide…

Can powerful institutions be changedfrom within, or does revolution always require violence?

Paperback.

 

Product Information

Shipping & Returns

Description

Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller from the author of The Poppy War

“Absolutely phenomenal. One of the most brilliant, razor-sharp books I've had the pleasure of reading that isn't just an alternative fantastical history, but an interrogative one; one that grabs colonial history and the IndustrialRevolution, turns it over, and shakes it out.” -- Shannon Chakraborty, bestselling author of The City of Brass

From award-winning author R. F. Kuang comes Babel, a thematic response to The Secret History and a tonal retort to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell that grappleswith student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of language and translation as the dominating tool of the British empire.

Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.

1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese,all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation—also known as Babel.

Babel is the world's center for translation and, more importantly, magic. Silver working—the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars—has made the British unparalleled in power, as its knowledge serves the Empire’s quest for colonization.

For Robin, Oxford is a utopiadedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge obeys power, and as a Chinese boy raised in Britain, Robin realizes serving Babel means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress, Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to stopping imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide…

Can powerful institutions be changedfrom within, or does revolution always require violence?

Paperback.

 

You may also like

NEW
Thumbnail 1Thumbnail 2

Outside Your Window: A First Book of Nature by Nicola Davies

$16.17

NEW
Thumbnail 1Thumbnail 2

The Iliad/The Odyssey Boxed Set by Gillian Cross

$31.26

NEW
Thumbnail 1Thumbnail 2

The Proper Way to Meet a Hedgehog and Other How-to Poems by Paul B. Janeczko

$12.93

-65%NEW
Thumbnail 1Thumbnail 2

Moonbeams, Dumplings & Dragon Boats by Nina Simonds, Leslie Swartz, & The Children's Museum, Boston

$16.17

$5.66

-65%NEW
Thumbnail 1Thumbnail 2

Wipe Clean Workbook: Cursive Handwriting by Roger Priddy

$7.00

$2.45

-65%NEW
Thumbnail 1

Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy

$15.36

$5.38

NEW
Thumbnail 1Thumbnail 2

D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths

$21.55

NEW
Thumbnail 1Thumbnail 2

D'Aulaires' Book of Trolls

$16.14

NEW
Thumbnail 1Thumbnail 2

Origami and Poetry: Inspired by Nature by Clover Robin

$11.32

NEW
Thumbnail 1Thumbnail 2

Three Balls of Wool by Henriqueta Cristina

$13.75

-65%NEW
Thumbnail 1

The Crocodile and the Dentist by Taro Gomi

$13.47

$4.71

-65%NEW
Thumbnail 1Thumbnail 2

Most of the Better Natural Things in the World by Dave Eggers

$13.75

$4.81