You Can Live Forever

May 11, 2025 5:57 PM

Author:Julie Maxwell

'Few disappointments compare to the loss of eternity...'

Alice is going to live forever. She's been promised this since childhood. All she has to do is follow the true religion of The Unbelievable Potential of Human Beings. Her mother is a pillar of the church and her brother is a deacon. But Alice is faltering, she's losing the knack of living forever. Things aren't helped by her father William, a part-time arsonist, rejected husband, ladies' man and fraudster, or by Jude, an attractive fellow church-goer with a longing for womankind.

In this intricate and satisfying debut, which was featured on BBC Radio 5 Live as Book of the Month, Julie Maxwell writes with dry, dark humour, wit and intelligence about sex and the sect and the heart of darkness.

Winner of the Betty Trask Award.

Reviews

A fine novel that mixes comedy and darkness the way someone in China once mixed saltpetre and charcoal to produce gunpowder. Reading this novel is like watching a cordite fuse racing towards its dark destination

—— Craig Raine

Maxwell demonstrates wit, elegance and great insight...hilarious...excellent

—— Literary Review

You Can Live Forever boasts a down-to-earth charm that is relentlessly witty

—— Time Out

A quirky sense of humour and sharp intelligence

—— Scotland on Sunday

Maxwell writes with a vast, tenacious intellect

—— The Herald

Exhilarating...brilliantly plotted

—— New Statesman

With great panache and assurance, Jon Canter lampoons the pretentions of England's top legal set...this comic tour de force.

—— Emma Hagestadt , Independent

Brilliantly witty

—— Arabella Weir

Jon Canter projects a series of funny, sometimes hilarious, incidents in which the comedy is structured rather than slapstick, verging on the licentious but masterfully avoiding it

—— Times Literary Supplement

'With Frau Szabó, you have caught a golden fish. Buy all of her novels, the ones she is writing and the ones she will write'

—— Herman Hesse

'The Door has been waiting for us from more than sixteen years. It has just opened'

—— Livres Hebdo

'In The Door the Hungarian Magda Szabó cleverly guides her intense and poignant novel, allowing the tension to rise in a crescendo'

—— Madame Figaro

Captures the obsessive and destructive madness of sexual jealousy

—— Psychologies

Roberts deploys her research carefully, honing a novel with a strong period feel and a sprightly structure

—— Independent

An amazing read

—— Latest 7

Roberts’ sharp, evocative prose renders this simple story complex, enthralling and compelling

—— Anne Hill , Sussex Life

This spiky portrait of love makes for a gripping read

—— Emma Hagestadt , Independent Radar

A heartbreaking examination of lives and love

—— Diva Magazine

A powerful story of sexual jealousy and longing, My Policeman is also a heartbreaking examination of lives and love that has gone to waste in an era in which homosexuality was a prosecutable offence

—— DIVA Magazine

A delicious novel by an experienced author who captures the scientific atmosphere of the early 19th century with a devastating study of infidelity

—— Colin Gardiner , Oxford Times

The real life players of the Napoleonic era spring to life

—— i

Compelling

—— Big Issue

Highly assured and almost educational with its broad sweep of history

—— Jane Housham , Guardian

Tillyard’s achievement is in this original portray log the Regency era and its relevance to our own time

—— Philippa Williams , The Lady

a very human tale about passion, secrets and lies.

—— Reading Matters

An achingly brilliant piece of writing on passion and delusion. It's a pleasure to read from start to finish and reignites our love for fiction

—— Independent

Previous Article：Three Elizabethan Domestic Tragedies Next Article：The Complete Enderby

Comments

Welcome to zzdbook comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.