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Tod. T. Friendly is living his life backwards.

Doctor Friendly has just died, but after weeks of improving in the hospital, he is sent home to his affable, melting-pot, primary-colour existence in suburban America.

From the fresh-cut lawns of his retirement to the hustle of New York, and then the boat back to war-torn Europe, Friendly carries with him a secret. Trapped in his body from grave to cradle, Friendly's consciousness can only watch as he struggles to make sense of the good doctor's most ambitious project yet - the final solution.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE

'Amis's most daring and ambitious novel' Daily Telegraph Amis's backwards world is rigorously imagined. It is a world of pathos and cruel hilarity - but the crux, the test of his vision, is what he does with Auschwitz * Guardian * The devastatingly sustained black irony stands comparison with Swift's A Modest Proposal. It is, I think, Amis's finest achievement to date * Financial Times * Extraordinary - Ironic inversion is essentially a comic device, but its trickery here yields results that are rigorously grave * Independent on Sunday * An icy, hard read - Amis is at his intriguing, powerful and heedful best * Time Out * Amis's most daring and ambitious novel * Daily Telegraph *

Time's Arrow