Cloud Atlas (novel)

Cloud Atlas is the third novel by British author David Mitchell, published in 2004. It blends metafiction, historical fiction, contemporary fiction, and science fiction through a series of interconnected, nested stories, each written in a distinct style. The narrative spans from the remote South Pacific in the 1800s to a post-apocalyptic Hawaii far in the future. The title comes from a musical composition by Toshi Ichiyanagi.

The book earned recognition from both mainstream literary circles and the speculative fiction community, winning the British Book Awards General Fiction Award and the Richard & Judy Book of the Year award. It was also shortlisted for the Booker Prize, the Nebula Award for Best Novel, and the Arthur C. Clarke Award. A film adaptation, directed by the Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer with an ensemble cast, came out in 2012.

The plot is built from six nested stories, each read or observed by the protagonist of the next, moving forward in time until the central sixth story. The first five stories are each cut off at a key moment. After the sixth story, the others are resolved in reverse chronological order.

In the mid-19th century on the Chatham Islands, American lawyer Adam Ewing keeps a journal while his ship is repaired. He sees a Māori overseer flog Autua, an enslaved Moriori man. Aboard the ship, Ewing’s only friend, Dr. Henry Goose, tells him he has a fatal parasite. Meanwhile, Autua stows away in Ewing’s cabin. After Ewing tells the captain, Autua proves to be a skilled seaman and is allowed to work for passage to Hawaii.

In 1931, near Bruges, disowned English musician Robert Frobisher writes to his lover, Rufus Sixsmith. He becomes amanuensis to aging composer Vyvyan Ayrs, expanding a basic melody into *Der Todtenvogel* (The Death-Bird), which gains critical praise. Encouraged, Frobisher starts composing his own music. He has an affair with Ayrs’ wife, Jocasta, arousing suspicion from her daughter Eva. He secretly sells Ayrs’ rare books, finds the first half of *The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing*, and asks Sixsmith to locate the rest. As summer ends, Jocasta thanks him for reviving Ayrs’ creativity, and Frobisher agrees to stay until the next year.

In 1975 in Buenas Yerbas, California, journalist Luisa Rey meets elderly Rufus Sixsmith in a stalled elevator and tells him about her late father, a war correspondent.