Son of Nobody

When Canadian scholar, Harlow Donne, has the opportunity to continue his studies at Oxford University he grabs the chance though it means leaving his wife and eight year old daughter, Helen, at home in Canada. When carrying out his research in the library he discovers an excerpt from an Ancient Greek manuscript which appears to be part of an account of the Trojan Wars that differs from Homer's account in The Odyssey and The Iliad. This account appears to be provided from the viewpoint of an ordinary soldier -  Psoas, Son of Nobody. Donne spends the rest of his time in England looking for other clues in order to investigate this alternative version of the story.

 In Son of Nobody, Yann Martel has structured his novel so that the excerpts of the story that Donne discovers are gradually revealed to the reader on the top of some of the pages of the book. A horizontal line divides each page and, in the section below the line, Donne adds footnotes providing explanations and additional information to some of the content. Notes in this section also reveal the deteriorating relationship between Donne and his wife as well as his relationship with his daughter to whom he dedicates the Greek poem he is discovering.

Son of Nobody is a story of parallels illustrating the effects of separation due to war and work plus family relationships as Donne investigates a new telling of a mythical world.

Some reviews: 

Son of Nobody (review) - The Guardian  (20 April 2026)

Ancient texts and marital breakdown: Yann Martel's Son of Nobody descends into implausibility (review) - The Conversation 

 Son of Nobody (review) - Open Letters Review