Madame Sosostris & the Festival for the Broken-Hearted

Madame Sosostris & the Festival for the Broken-Hearted is a mesmerising and unique novel by the Booker Prize-winning master of magical realism, Ben Okri. The story unfolds on the twentieth anniversary of a heartbreak that struck Viv, an eccentric figure in the House of Lords. To commemorate the event, Viv hosts the inaugural Festival for the Broken-Hearted on the ethereal grounds of a chateau in the South of France.

As crowds descend, everyone is in fancy dress, meaning no one knows who anyone is. The guests have just one magical, transformative midsummer night to wander the beautiful, enchanted woods—a night to change everything.

To crown the festivities, a very special guest is expected: the world-renowned clairvoyant and fortune-teller, Madame Sosostris. Not seen since her famous appearance in T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land, she is known as the wisest woman in Europe and is slated to attend for one night only.

Part vision, part mystery, this story is an homage to Eliot’s classic poem, delivered in Okri’s inimitable, resonant style. It is a work of dazzling imagination and emotional depth, evoking the feeling of “Ingmar Bergman meets William Shakespeare, with a dash of Mozart.” It asks whether Viv’s carefully orchestrated festival will fall to pieces, and whether she, her husband, or anyone else will make it through the night whole.