# Orfeo

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![Orfeo](https://quivercdn.com/covers/penguin/richard-powers/orfeo_978-18-0495-177-4-38d9f348.jpg?v=2026-09-23%2002%3A44%3A05)

- Book: [Orfeo](https://www.bookquiver.com/richard-powers/orfeo) ([Orfeo.md](https://www.bookquiver.com/richard-powers/orfeo.md))
- Authors: [Richard Powers](https://www.bookquiver.com/richard-powers)
- Publisher: Penguin
- Medium: ebook
- ISBN: 978-18-0495-177-4
- Published: 2025-06-12
- Language: en_GB
- Binding: E-book

## Description

Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2014 'A virtuoso performance' SUNDAY TIMES 'Extraordinary and confounding, mind-spinning and wonderful' INDEPENDENT 'A magnificent and moving novel' LOS ANGELES TIMES Seventy-year-old avant-garde composer Peter Els opens the door one evening to find the police on his doorstep. His home microbiology lab - where he is conducting the latest experiment in his lifelong attempt to find musical patterns in surprising places - has aroused the suspicions of Homeland Security. Panicked by the raid, Els turns fugitive, earning him the moniker 'Bioterrorist Bach'. He hatches a daring plan to transform this disastrous collision with the security state into an unforgettable work of art that will reawaken its audience to the sounds all around it. A gripping escape narrative filled with lyrical wonder, Orfeo is both a portrait of a creative, obsessive man, and a reflection on finding melodies in everyday life.