Cover art for Departure(s)
14% off!
Published
Jonathan Cape, January 2026
ISBN
9781787335721
Format
Hardcover, 176 pages
Dimensions
22.2cm × 13.8cm × 2.5cm

Departure(s)

14% off — normally $34.99!
Not yet released
Due January 20, 2026.
Fast $7.95 flat-rate shipping!
Only pay $7.95 per order within Australia, including end-to-end parcel tracking.
100% encrypted and secure
We adhere to industry best practice and never store credit card details.
Talk to real people
Contact us seven days a week – our staff are here to help.

The new book from the Booker Prize-winning Julian Barnes, about looking back, facing the future, and coming to the end of life

The new book from the Booker Prize-winning Julian Barnes, about looking back, facing the future, and coming to the end of life

Departure(s) is a work of fiction - but that doesn't mean it's not true.

It is the story of a man called Stephen and a woman called Jean, who fall in love when they are young and again when they are old. It is the story of an elderly Jack Russell called Jimmy, enviably oblivious to his own mortality.

It is also the story of how the body fails us, whether through age, illness, accident or intent. And it is the story of how experiences fade into anecdotes, and then into memory. Does it matter if what we remember really happened? Or does it just matter that it mattered enough to be remembered?

It begins at the end of life - but it doesn't end there. Ultimately, it's about the only things that ever really mattered- how we find happiness in this life, and when it is time to say goodbye.

Related books