THE SHINING INTELLIGENCE, suave prose and conceptual ingenuity of Richard Powers's work consistently earn him admiring reviews, but his low profile and potentially off-putting reputation as a 'novelist of ideas' have hitherto meant that his books are less widely read than those of noisier authors. With his astonishing eighth novel, far more ambitious and populous than its predecessors, he seizes his rightful place in the front rank of contemporary American writers.

Its protagonists are Jonah and Joseph Strom, mixed race brothers born in New York in the 1940s, who both become professional musicians. Jonah is an outstanding singer, winning a national competition, touring as a lieder recitalist and making a well-received record before quitting the US for Europe in the late