**A must-read for any J. G. Ballard fan, this “capstone to a magnificent career” is the essential sequel to Empire of the Sun ( *San Francisco Chronicle* ).** Published in 1991, this semi-autobiographical novel is a daring masterpiece from “one of the most important and intelligent voices in contemporary fiction” (Susan Sontag). “Rueful the way Primo Levi’s work was” ( *New York Times Book Review* ), the novel follows fifteen-year-old Jim Graham as he leaves the ruins of postwar Shanghai, only to find that he cannot escape his own obsession with death.