The Great When: A Long London Novel

From the New York Times bestselling author and legendary storyteller Alan Moore, the first book in an enthralling new series about murder, magic, and madness set between two Londons-one recovering from World War II, and one a secret world unlike any other.

"Extraordinary . . . very funny . . . It does what fantasy does best which is show us something beyond our experience." -Susanna Clarke, New York Times bestselling author of Piranesi and Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

In 1949, amidst the smog of London, Dennis Knuckleyard, a hapless eighteen year-old employed by a second-hand bookshop, discovers a novel that simply does not exist. It is a fictitious book, a fragment from another novel. Yet it is physically there in his hands. How?

Dennis has stumbled on a book from the Great When, a magical version of London beyond time and space, where reality blurs with fiction and concepts such as Crime and Poetry are incarnated as wondrous, terrible beings. But this other, magical London must remain a secret: if Dennis cannot find a way to return this book to where it belongs, he risks facing gruesome and grave repercussions.

So begins a journey delving deep into the city's occult underbelly and tarrying with an eccentric cast of sorcerers, gangsters, and murderers - some from legend, some frighteningly real, and all with plans of their own. Soon Dennis finds himself at the center of an explosive series of events that may alter and endanger both Londons forever . . .

Author: Alan Moore
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 10/01/2024
Series: Long London
Pages: 336
Weight: 1.3lbs
Size: 9.49h x 6.40w x 1.17d
ISBN: 9781635578843


Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 07/01/2024 pg. 80
Publishers Weekly 07/15/2024
Booklist 09/01/2024 pg. 41
BookPage 10/01/2024
Kirkus Reviews 12/01/2024

About the Author
Alan Moore is widely regarded as the best and most influential writer in the history of comics. His seminal works include From Hell, Lost Girls, and The League of Extraordinary Gentleman. He is also the author of the bestselling novel, Jerusalem, and story collection, Illuminations. He was born in Northampton, England and has lived there ever since.