Douglas Pitt is a man obsessed. Laughed at, mocked and dismissed at every turn, Pitt has spent the best part of an unremarkable academic career attempting to prove the genius of Samuel Highgate Syme (b 1794, Baltimore; soldier, geologist, inventor). After years of frustration, Pitt finally stumbles into the good fortune he hopes will make his name: he uncovers a manuscript written by a fledgling scientist which recounts a year in the company of the irrespresible Syme.

Teeming with comic detail and fierce intelligence, The Syme Papers recreates a time when to question the world and the origin of creation was the greatest project a scientist could undertake. It is a novel of genius and failure; of a man who thought he could prove the world was hollow, and in the glorious process of discover, broke his own heart.

"'Practically every sentence elicits a gasp of surprise or pleasure... there is truth and beauty here and a lovely story of loneliness and obsession.' Daily Telegraph; 'A remarkable first novel... This original, ambitious book demands full concentration - and deserves it.' Sunday Telegraph; 'The bastard son of Philip Roth and A. S. Byatt.' New Statesman; 'A formidable achievement and truly a book to get lost in.' Daily Mail"

Benjamin Markovits grew up in Texas, London and Berlin. He left an unpromising career as a professional basketball player to study the Romantics. Since then he has taught high school English, edited a left-wing cultural magazine and written essays, stories and reviews for, among other publications, The New York Times, The Guardian, The London Review of Books and the Paris Review. He has written four previous novels, The Syme Papers, Either Side of Winter, Imposture and A Quiet Adjustment. Markovits has lived in London since 2000 and is married with a daughter and a son. He teaches creative writing at Royal Holloway, University of London.