**THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER****Winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize 2024**From one kiss comes a chain reaction a masterpiece of memoir from the winner of the Baillie Gifford and the Booker prize Extraordinary Sarah Perry Masterpiece Colm T ib n Wholly original. I absolutely loved it David Nicholls A brilliant, brilliant book James RebanksBy way of H. G. Wells and Rebecca West s affair, through 1930s nuclear physics, to Flanagan s father working as a slave labourer near Hiroshima, this chain of events culminates in a young man finding himself trapped in a rapid on a wild river, not knowing if he is to live or to die The strangest and most beautiful memoir I ve ever read. Magnificent' Tim Winton Flanagan s finest book... A brilliant meditation on the past of one man and the history that coalesced in his existence Guardian Flanagan s portrayal of his quiet, brave father and his loving, resilient mother is exquisite masterful Daily Telegraph Intimate, beautiful, unsparing and profound' Anna Funder