The Untouchable

Author: John Banville

Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945) | Espionage & spy thriller

Published on 12^th February 2026 by Pan Macmillan (Picador) in the United Kingdom as part of the 'Picador Collection' series.

Paperback / softback | 416 pages
197mm x 130mm | 0g

Inspired by the true story of Anthony Blunt and the Cambridge Five spy ring, The Untouchable is a beautifully crafted novel by John Banville, author of the Booker Prize-winning The Sea.

Victor Maskell has been betrayed. After an announcement in the House of Commons and the hasty revelation of his double life of wartime espionage, his disgrace is public, his knighthood revoked, his position as curator of the Queen’s pictures terminated. There are questions to be answered. For whom has he been sacrificed? To what has he sacrificed his life?‘The Untouchable is an engrossing, exquisitely written and almost bewilderingly smart book . . . It’s the fullest book I’ve read in a very long time, utterly accomplished, thoroughly readable, written by a novelist of vast talent’ – Richard Ford, author of Independence DayNow part of the Picador Collection, a series showcasing the very best of modern literature.