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The Freedom Artist
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Description
Explore the extraordinary imagination of Booker Prize-winner and visionary author Ben Okri – one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary literature.
In a world uncomfortably like our own, a young woman called Amalantis is arrested for asking a question: Who is the Prisoner?
When Amalantis disappears, her lover Karnak goes looking for her. He searches desperately at first, then with a growing realization. To find Amalantis, he must first understand the meaning of her question. Karnak's search leads him into a terrifying world of lies, oppression and fear at the heart of which lies the Prison. Then Karnak discovers that he is not the only one looking for the truth.
The Freedom Artist is an impassioned plea for justice and a penetrating examination of how freedom is threatened in a post-truth society, a powerful and haunting call to arms.
Product details
| Published | Oct 27 2026 |
|---|---|
| Format | Paperback |
| Edition | 1st |
| Pages | 368 |
| ISBN | 9781035930975 |
| Imprint | Head of Zeus |
| Dimensions | 198 x 129 mm |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
Reviews
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Ben Okri's most significant novel since his Man Booker Prize-winning masterpiece The Famished Road, The Freedom Artist weaves together ancient myth and modern politics for an impassioned story primed for the post-truth age. A story of love and loss, fiercely told and impossible to ignore
Waterstones, The Best Books to Look Out For in 2019
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A multi-layered allegorical narrative that cuts to the heart of our current political and cultural malaise, while maintaining a mythical, mesmeric flavour that makes the reader feel these are stories they have always known... It's savagely political, disturbing and fiercely optimistic, the deeply felt work of a writer who refuses to stop asking the hardest questions'
Observer
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Okri creates a chilling atmosphere... Okri's rhythmic, folk tale-like prose is beguiling'
Sunday Times
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These ideas are virtuosically juggled in a series of short enigmatic chapters... The story does not so much unfold as become manifest... The Freedom Artist has a compelling power and energy that won't let the reader go. Or fall by the wayside'
Herald
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A heady jumble of influence and inspiration, a tapestry of biblical reference, mythology, folklore and fable. The lyrical simplicity of Okri's prose, with its short sentences and chapters, only heightens the power of the novel's political message
Financial Times
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In a world not unlike our own, a young woman called Amalantis is arrested. Her lover goes looking for her. An examination of post-truth society and justice from the Booker-winning author of The Famished Road
The Times, Biggest Novels of 2019

























