<p>A plague driven band of vagabonds and beggars, calling themselves The Shakespeare Company, arrive at the decaying little town of Babylon, where they perform King Lear in a whirl of mayhem and madness. As the night proceeds, they spin out of control, embodied by their roles.</p>

<p>Narrated by the girl Curan, a minor character, this novel is part black comedy, part tragedy, part carnival, and implicitly dystopian. It is a bizarre and disturbing novel of a plague society in social and moray decay. A novel that challenges the reader at every turn.</p>

<p>Erotic, eerie and disturbing, Johnson&#39;s novel reinvents the emotional dynamic of Shakespeare&#39;s play, as in a distorted mirror. It does not, however, require knowledge of the play to work it&#39;s magic as a piece of fiction.</p>

<p>&lsquo;Johnson makes an original contribution to the literature of disaster, and certainly to the nation&#39;s literature that still struggles beneath the mantle of social realism; he does it by the sheer intensity of his poetic vision, combined with an adroit meta-fictional sense...&nbsp;</p>

<p>In this fallen world, does falling matter? Johnson&rsquo;s novel is an exuberant, artful meditation on this question&hellip;&#39;&nbsp;David Dowling, Landfall.</p>

<p>&lsquo;He has achieved a kind of &lsquo;worldmaking&rsquo; that confirms his position as one of New Zealand&rsquo;s most important fiction writers.&rsquo; &nbsp;Jody Dalgleish, on the novel&nbsp;<em>Travesty</em>, Landfall.</p>

<p>&lsquo;One of the most innovative, original and fearless writers I know.&rsquo; Witi Ihimaera, on the novel&nbsp;<em>Stench</em>.</p>