Conquest

The most experimental work yet from a boldly adventurous novelist… it both demands and rewards a more ruminative reading * Locus Magazine *Allan challengingly evokes a world of paranoia and delusion * Financial Times * The finest author currently writing regardless of genre… (Conquest) is both beautifully written and formally experimental… a haunting, thought-provoking speculative masterpiece, a riveting demonstration of an artist in masterful control of her material. * Fantasy Hive *In this outstanding, beautifully controlled novel, Allen explores the smudged edges of fear and paranoia, belief and credulity, where she finds a sweet spot shimmering with truth and a strange beauty. * Daily Mail *Formally inventive and utterly readable * Herald *In its themes of misinformation, potential microbiological Trojan horses and conspiracy, Conquest can also be read in total as a joyously fantastical and elaborate Covid-19 allegory; if so, it is surely the best book yet to emerge from the pandemic. * Guardian *A truly bold and inventive piece of work. It deserves to make Nina Allan famous. * TLS *This is one of the best books I’ve read this year. * Bookphase *A powerful exploration into the human need to make connections. * Scots Magazine *Bamboozingly brilliant * TLS, Book of the Year *Absorbing … her best novel yet. * Guardian (Five of the best science fiction and fantasy books of 2023) *

Nina Allan is a novelist and short story writer. Her previous fiction has won several prizes, including the British Science Fiction Award for Best Novel, the Novella Award and the Grand Prix de L’Imaginaire for Best Translated Work. She lives and works in Rothesay, on the Isle of Bute. The Dollmaker is her third novel.