The Stars Can Wait

Apr 5, 2026 2:24 PM

Author:Jay Basu

The Stars Can Wait

It is the autumn of 1940, one year into the German occupation of Poland. In a small mining village in Upper Silesia, Gracian Sofka is fifteen years old. The past year he has been risking his skin, making expeditions into the forest after curfew to gaze at the stars. By the time six months have passed, Gracian will have journeyed twice more into the forest, the German army will be on the French Atlantic coast, the constellations will have followed their secret paths across the universe, and Pawel, Gracian's beloved elder brother, will be dead.

Reviews

Big up to Ben Elton and respect, big time. Top, top book

—— Mail on Sunday

Wry, fast and fiendishly clever

—— The Times

A book with pace and wit, real tension, a dark background theme and a big on-screen climax

—— Independent

The perfect modern-day whodunit. A cracking read full of hilarious insights into the Big Brother phenomenon

—— Mirror

One of the best whodunits I have ever read...a funny, gripping, hugely entertaining thriller, but also a persuasive, dyspeptic account of the way we live now, with our insane, inane cult of the celebrity

—— Sunday Telegraph

A story that is startlingly strange, in the best sense-pitch-perfect prose

—— The New Yorker

This first novel is undeniably rich: a tale woven around the importance of faith, whether in imaginary friends or undiscovered treasures, and the strength of family

—— The Times

The year's most impressive debut

—— John Carey , Sunday Times

Like Donna Tartt’s "The Secret History" or a good film noir . . . Jane’s low-key narration has just the right tone to keep readers hooked

—— People magazine

The strength of 'The Lake of Dead Languages' is a silken prose that lures the reader into Goodman’s . . . story of murder, suicide . . . revenge, and madness

—— The Washington Post Book World

Part suspense, part coming-of-age, and all-enthralling . . . A book that needs the roar of a fire to ward off its psychic chill

—— The Denver Post

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