Book excerpt: Filled with beauty, terror and strangeness, This Census-Taker is a poignant and riveting exploration of memory and identity. "One of our most important writers." Independent on Sunday In a remote house on a hilltop, a lonely boy witnesses a traumatic event. He tries - and fails - to flee. Left alone with his increasingly deranged parent, he dreams of safety, of joining the other children in the town below, of escape. When at last a stranger knocks at his door, the boy senses that his days of isolation might be over. But by what authority does this man keep the meticulous records he carries? What is the purpose behind his questions? Is he friend? Enemy? Or something else altogether? PRAISE FOR CHINA MIEVILLE 'You can't talk about Miéville without using the word "brilliant".' Ursula Le Guin, Guardian 'Miéville is gifted with an incomparable visionary imagination.' Financial Times 'Miéville - twice winner of the British Fantasy Award and three times winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award - is head and shoulders above other writers in this genre.' The Times 'With each book Miéville becomes more and more ambitious, with a profusion of ideas and images on each page that makes other contemporary books look thin and reductive.' Scotland on Sunday