Surfing a wave of success

Despite the Hollywood glitz that goes with the film adaptation of his Cloud Atlas book, David Mitchell is content to live quietly in Clonakilty, writes Conor Power

RELEASED in 2004, the novel Cloud Atlas was adored by critics and the public alike. It was one of those rarities that managed to be cerebral yet accessible and entertaining. A film adaptation starring Tom Hanks and Halle Berry opens in Ireland on Friday.

The book’s author — 44-year-old Englishman David Mitchell — gave up the day job after the release of his second novel, Number9dream, in 2001. He subsequently left Japan, where he had been teaching English, and moved to Ireland. He now lives outside Clonakilty, Cork, with his Japanese-born wife and their two children.