The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August

By Claire North

Wildly original, funny and moving, The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August is an extraordinary story of a life lived again and again from World Fantasy Award-winning author Claire North.

Harry August is on his deathbed. Again.

No matter what he does or the decisions he makes, when death comes, Harry always returns to where he began, a child with all the knowledge of a life he has already lived a dozen times before. Nothing ever changes.

Until now.

As Harry nears the end of his eleventh life, a little girl appears at his bedside. "I nearly missed you, Doctor August," she says. "I need to send a message."

This is the story of what Harry does next, and what he did before, and how he tries to save a past he cannot change and a future he cannot allow.

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Published Oct 21, 2014

432 pages

Average rating: 6.71

164 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

What Bookclubbers are saying about this book

✨ Summarized by Bookclubs AI

Readers say *The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August* offers a fresh, inventive take on time loops and reincarnation, blending speculative fiction wit...

Reading is fun :P
Jul 15, 2026
2/10 stars
This book was so painful to get through, I almost DNF'd it probably 15 times. The only reason I kept going was bc of book club so that I could honestly discuss it with everyone else. The last 20% of the book was somewhat entertaining but really wasn't worth the pain of getting that far.
Carmen Maldonado
May 26, 2026
10/10 stars
AWESOME!!
Harrietaspy
May 04, 2025
8/10 stars
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I really did not like Life After Life and I worried that this would be similar but I found it to be much more entertaining. Seeing the interaction between the characters and have the Cronus Club pulled throughout gave it a different take.
katietopp
Jan 01, 2025
10/10 stars
Excellent interesting read. The characters in this book are easy to fall in love with and grow to hate at the same time. Which in my opinion makes them all the more life like. A definite recommend to anyone who likes an urban fantasy or urban sci-fi kind of book. The prose itself is written so fluidly it makes me want to sing it. Just don't let the reading of this change yourself in your next life, or the club will be after us all.
miguel
Oct 15, 2024
8/10 stars
4.5 stars.

Wow!

This one is going to need to be re read in time.

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