A Revolution Of The Sun

Dec 20, 2025 7:06 AM

Author:Tim Pears

It begins at the stroke of midnight on the first day of 1997. As the year turns, a group of disparate individuals from different backgrounds, from all corners of the country, are about to embark on separate journeys which will converge over the course of the next twelve months: among them, Rebecca - mother-to-be, Sam - amnesiac, Roderick - Conservative MP, Jack - lorry driver, Martha - cat burglar, Ben - paraplegic child, Solo - his abandoned father.

At the end of that year, their lives will have changed irrevocably, some for better, some for worse, but changed nonetheless. They cannot know what will happen to them, but there is an inevitability in their shared destiny that will prove impossible to withstand...

A Revolution of the Sun tells the story of one momentous year through the eyes of the people who lived it. It is not only their stories, but also the anatomy of a nation in flux. Ambitious, powerful, irresistible, it is the work of a writer at the peak of his powers and once again demonstrates Pears to be a great contemporary novelist.

Reviews

Tim Pears specialises in grand panoramas of our national life: teeming casts and multi-tracked plotting heavy with the scent of zeitgeist. For this, and quite a lot more besides, he deserves the highest praise

—— Guardian

The scope of this novel is far reaching. That it succeeds in combining all the elements and thrusting them ever forwards with humour and affection is testament to Pears' bold vision and large talent

—— Daily Mail

A hugely ambitious and enjoyable novel

—— The Times

Set in Tokyo the story glides across the contradictions of contemporary Japanese culture - its deep traditions and manic consumerism...

—— The Times

A subtle meditation on beauty and womanhood

—— Observer

A fun read, the novel's charm lies in its quirky humour

—— Elizabeth Buchan , The Sunday Times

This is poignant, quirky and delightfully original

—— Woman & Home

Confirms that she's a writer to watch

—— Bella

A delightful tale

—— Good Housekeeping

This is an assured second novel - and wonderful company for that long-overdue summer trip

—— Press Assocation

Imaginative and transporting, but entirely unfussy and unsentimental, the novel is written with a glint in the eye that gives it that extra bit of wind beneath its wings

—— Nicola Barr , Guardian

Wilson has done his research impeccably and he writes superbly well

—— Literary Review

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