Murmur, the latest novel by Will Eaves of the University of Warwick's Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies, has been nominated for the Wellcome Book Prize.

Commenting on Murmur Elif Shafak, chair of this year's judging panel, said the book was “Beautifully imagined, splendidly paced, masterfully written.

"Murmur is a real gem – a book to fall in love with. This novel will grip your mind in the very first pages, break your heart half-way through, and in the end, strangely, unexpectedly, restore your faith in human beings and their endless capacity for resilience.”

The winner of the 2019 prize, which celebrates the best new books that illuminate the many ways that health, medicine and illness touch our lives, is due to be announced at an evening ceremony on Wednesday 1 May at London's Wellcome Collection.

Inspired by the life of Alan Turing, Murmur fictionalises the devastating period before the mathematician’s suicide in an extraordinary contemplation on consciousness, science and the future."

Commenting on Murmur, Will Eaves said:

“I’m not a mathematician, but I am interested in certain issues to do with the nature of consciousness.

"I’m also trying to suggest something about how a hard-line material scientist would approach the problem of pain and desolation. And my guess is that he would have tried to get very interested in it.

“Murmur tries to find a dramatic paraphrase for Turing’s physical, mental and political predicament. It asks: how does one fit the personal experience of trauma into a material conception of the world?”

Formerly Arts Editor of the Times Literary Supplement, Eaves is the author of four novels and two collections of poetry. The opening section of Murmur was shortlisted for the 2017 BBC National Short Story Award.

19 March 2019