The Absolutist A Novel

A new edition of the beloved novel most similar thematically to the author’s mega-bestseller The Heart’s Invisible Furies

It is September 1919: twenty-one-year-old Tristan Sadler takes a train from London to Norwich to deliver a package of letters to the sister of Will Bancroft, the man he fought alongside during the Great War.

But the letters are not the real reason for Tristan’s visit. He can no longer keep a secret and has finally found the courage to unburden himself of it. As Tristan recounts the horrific details of what to him became a senseless war, he also speaks of his friendship with Will—from their first meeting on the training grounds at Aldershot to their farewell in the trenches of northern France. The intensity of their bond brought Tristan happiness and self-discovery as well as confusion and unbearable pain.

The Absolutist is a tale of passion, jealousy, heroism, and betrayal set in one of the most gruesome trenches of France during World War I.

John Boyne was born in Ireland in 1971 and is the author of twelve novels for adults, most recently the New York Times bestseller The Heart’s Invisible Furies, A Ladder to the Sky, and A Traveler at the Gates of Wisdom as well as six novels for teens and young adults including the #1 New York Times bestselling The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.