Cloud Atlas (novel)

Cloud Atlas
First edition book cover
AuthorDavid Mitchell
Cover artistE.S. Allen
LanguageEnglish
GenreScience fantasy, drama
Published2004 (Sceptre)
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages544 (first edition, hardback)
ISBN0-340-82277-5 (first edition, hardback)
OCLC53821716
823/.92 22
LC ClassPR6063.I785 C58 2004b

Cloud Atlas, published in 2004, is the third novel by British author David Mitchell. The book combines metafiction, historical fiction, contemporary fiction and science fiction, with interconnected nested stories that take the reader from the remote South Pacific in the 19th century to the island of Hawaii in a distant post-apocalyptic future. Its title references a piece of music by Toshi Ichiyanagi.

It received awards from both the general literary community and the speculative fiction community, including the British Book Awards Literary Fiction award and the Richard & Judy Book of the Year award, it was also short-listed for the Booker Prize, Nebula Award for Best Novel, and Arthur C. Clarke Award. A film adaptation directed by the Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer, and featuring an ensemble cast, was released in 2012.