Tom Rachman Books
Tom Rachman is a British-Canadian author and journalist, best known for his debut novel 'The Imperfectionists'. Born in London and raised in Vancouver, he has worked as a foreign correspondent for the Associated Press and has lived in cities including Rome, Paris, and New York.
Known for: The Imperfectionists, The Rise and Fall of Great Powers
Books by Tom Rachman
The Imperfectionists
Set in Rome, this debut novel by Tom Rachman follows the intertwined lives of journalists and editors working for an English-language newspaper. Through a series of interconnected stories, it explores...
The Rise and Fall of Great Powers
Set across several decades and continents, this novel follows Tooly Zylberberg, a woman who runs a small bookshop in Wales. As her past catches up with her, Tooly revisits the people and events that s...
Key Insights from Tom Rachman
Lloyd Burko: The Correspondent Who Outlived His Beat
Lloyd Burko’s story opens the novel like a sigh from another age. Once a respected foreign correspondent, rushing through war zones and dispatching vivid reports, Lloyd is now obsolete—a man displaced not only by time but by the shrinking budgets and shrinking attention spans of readers. He lives in...
From The Imperfectionists
Arthur Gopal: The Obituary Writer Who Rediscovers Life Through Death
Arthur Gopal begins as one of the most disengaged employees at the newspaper. Assigned to the obituary desk, he performs his duties mechanically, barely speaking to colleagues, sinking into a numbed inertia that seems lifelong. Yet beneath this apathy lies exhaustion—a young father buried by respons...
From The Imperfectionists
Tooly’s Early Years: The World as a Puzzle
In the first timeline—Tooly’s childhood—the world for her is a series of disjointed episodes stitched together by adults whose intentions remain hidden. Paul, the man who first takes her from her home without explanation, brings with him not just mystery but a gentleness charged with uncertainty. He...
From The Rise and Fall of Great Powers
The New York Years: Idealism and Deception
By the late 1990s, as Tooly drifts into adulthood, her life becomes temporarily anchored in New York. This period represents both freedom and the sharp awakening that accompanies it. Within Venn’s circle—the loose gathering of intellectuals, bohemians, and radicals—she is encouraged to think critica...
From The Rise and Fall of Great Powers
About Tom Rachman
Tom Rachman is a British-Canadian author and journalist, best known for his debut novel 'The Imperfectionists'. Born in London and raised in Vancouver, he has worked as a foreign correspondent for the Associated Press and has lived in cities including Rome, Paris, and New York.
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Tom Rachman is a British-Canadian author and journalist, best known for his debut novel 'The Imperfectionists'. Born in London and raised in Vancouver, he has worked as a foreign correspondent for the Associated Press and has lived in cities including Rome, Paris, and New York.
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