On a languid midsummer’s day in the countryside, the Godley family gathers at the bedside of Adam, a renowned mathematician and their patriarch. But they are not alone in their vigil. Around them hovers a clan of mischievous immortals — Zeus, Pan, and Hermes among them — who begin to stir up trouble for the Godleys, to sometimes wildly unintended effect.

The Infinities — John Banville’s first novel since his Booker Prize-winning and bestselling The Sea — is at once a gloriously earthy romp and a wise look at the terrible, wonderful plight of being human.