Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2026 by Esquire • Marie Claire • Art+ • The Times • The Guardian • The Observer • The Financial Times • BBC • The Sydney Morning Herald • A Globe and Mail Spring 2026 Read • Featured in The American Booksellers Association's Spring 2026 Preview • Oprah Daily • People’s Best Books of March 2026

“Martel’s fiction within a fiction, the Psoad, has genuine charm . . . with ingenious touches throughout. . . . Martel (or is it Donne?) . . . bring[s] a witty freshness to standard elements of Homeric narrative.” —Daniel Mendelsohn, The New York Times

“Martel handles [Son of Nobody’s form] ingeniously. . . . The Psoad, 30 fragments of which are presented here, is a compelling narrative poem. . . . It has vivid detail, jokes and puns, plot twists and sardonic commentary.” —The Guardian

“A beautiful story about what we can learn from the past when it comes to homesickness, grief, love and ambition.” —ELLE

“Ambitious . . . captivating. . . . Martel’s imagination is amply matched by his craft. . . . Son of Nobody invites readers to take part in its playfulness, ensnares them with a superb imitation epic, and then slowly shatters their hearts.” ―Financial Times

“[Martel] seems to delight in pushing the boundaries of fiction, creating fantastical worlds that can only make sense in the reader's imagination. . . . In an age of diminishing attention spans and light-lift entertainment, Martel's willingness to take risks—to write playfully without shying away from complex ideas or big questions—feels both rare and valuable. . . . [Son of Nobody is] among [Martel's] boldest and most experimental works to date.” —Toronto Star

“Martel delivers another staggering and insightful novel of ideas.” —Esquire

“[A] bravura deconstruction of heroic narratives.” —Daily Mail

“The author of the juggernaut Life of Pi is taking a sly, brainy swing at the Trojan War by handing the mic to the people left out of the history books. . . . Myth meets midlife regret, and we’re intrigued.” –Oprah Daily

“Son of Nobody shows a deep attention to classical mythology. . . . Enjoyably composed. . . . A teasing metafictional work whose form invites comparisons with Vladimir Nabokov’s Pale Fire. Readers of Martel may think he is repeating old ideas and tricks but, especially in our discordant age, his preoccupations feel as relevant as ever.” —The Spectator (Australia)

“[Martel’s] retelling resonates with contemporary anxieties about war and bearing witness. . . . By revisiting the Illiad from the vantage point of anonymity, Son of Nobody questions the tradition that elevates exceptional figures while leaving ordinary lives unrecorded. The result is a measured reconsideration of the epic form, one that replaces grandeur with endurance and triumph with memory.” —The Telegraph (India)

“A powerful meditation on life, death and the vanity of human wishes, all illustrated by a poem that would make Homer proud.” ―The Week

“Profound prose. . . . [A] challenging, rewarding new work.” —Winnipeg Free Press

“A singular tour de force. . . . Brain-busting and beautiful. . . . Son of Nobody could be Martel’s magnum opus.” —New Zealand Listener

“A brilliant novel of ideas. . . . A powerful meditation on life, death, and the vanity of human wishes, all illustrated by a poem that would do Homer proud. A stunningly imagined revisitation of an ancient past that is every bit as awful as the present.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“[An] inventive novel about a classics scholar who makes a thrilling discovery. . . . Martel’s brilliant examination of how history is made and of who pays the price for all-consuming obsessions is original, thought-provoking, and utterly absorbing.” —Booklist (starred review)

“Inspired. . . . An appealing labor of love.” ―Publishers Weekly

“An absolutely stunning read. We follow a scholar as he pieces together a lost epic of the Trojan War: not of the mighty kings focused on during The Illiad, but of a common foot soldier’s suffering during the ten long years of war.” —Sierra Hollabaugh, The American Booksellers Association

“[An] inventive novel about a classics scholar who makes a thrilling discovery. . . . Martel’s brilliant examination of how history is made and of who pays the price for all-consuming obsessions is original, thought-provoking, and utterly absorbing.” —Shelf Awareness