The End of Mr. Y

When Ariel Manto uncovers a copy of The End of Mr. Y in a second-hand bookshop, she can’t believe her eyes. `she knows enough about its author, the outlandish Victorian scientist Thomas Lumas, to know that copies are exceedingly rare. And, some say, cursed.

With Mr. Y under her arm, Ariel finds herself thrust into a thrilling adventure of love, sex, death and time-travel.

Scarlett Thomas

was born in London in 1972. Her previous novels include Bright Young Things, Going Out and Popco. In 2001 she was included in the Independent on Sunday’s list of the UK’s 20 best young writers. She teaches English Literature and Creative writing at the University of Kent.

Scarlett Thomas's q & a

What sparked The End of Mr. Y?
Lots of things came together at the same time. I knew I wanted to write about language as something that both connects and imprisons us, and I knew I wanted to include a postgraduate protagonist called Ariel Manto, a mouse god and a cursed book. Then I heard about an abandoned railway tunnel under my university campus and immediately began chapter one with a tunnel collapsing under a campus and a building falling down.

Where and when is the novel set?
It's a contemporary setting, although there is a Victorian novel within the contemporary one. The action moves from Kent to Devon - oh, and into the Troposphere, another dimension where all minds are connected through language.

Do you have a favourite character in the novel?
It has to be my protagonist Ariel Manto, although really I am also obsessed with the mouse god Apollo Smintheus. I used to dream about him rescuing me on his little scooter sometimes - although he's a very complicated kind of mentor and it's probably not a good idea to get too tangled up with him.

What's your favourite children's book and why?
The Molesworth books, by Geoffrey Willans. I love these books because of the risks and experiments with language, and because they are so incredibly funny.