Nicholas Cornwell (born 26 November 1972), better known by his pen name Nick Harkaway, is a British novelist and commentator. As Harkaway, he is the author of the novels The Gone-Away World, Angelmaker (which was nominated for the 2013 Arthur C. Clarke award), Tigerman, and Gnomon; and a non-fiction study of the digital world, The Blind Giant: Being Human in a Digital World. Cornwell has also written two novels under the pseudonym Aidan Truhen.

Life

Harkaway was born Nicholas Cornwell in Cornwall. He is the son of Valerie Jane Eustace and author David Cornwell, known under his pen name John le Carré. Harkaway was educated at the independent University College School in North London, and Clare College, Cambridge, where he studied philosophy, sociology and politics and took up Shorinji Kan Jiu Jitsu. He worked in the film industry before becoming an author.

Fiction

The Gone-Away World

The Gone-Away World (2008) is Harkaway's first novel. Originally titled The Wages of Gonzo Lubitsch, it concerns a number of ex-special forces operatives turned truckers who are hired to perform a dangerous mission in a post-apocalyptic world.

Angelmaker

Angelmaker (2013) is a spy thriller detailing a clockmaker's attempt to stop a Cold War era doomsday weapon. Angelmaker won Best Novel in the 2013 Kitschies and was also nominated for that year's Arthur C. Clarke award.

Tigerman

Tigerman (2014) concerns a superhero origin story on an impoverished and doomed tropical island.

Gnomon

Gnomon (2017) deals with a state that exerts ubiquitous surveillance on its population. A detective investigates a murder through unconventional methods that leads to questions about her society's very nature.

The Price You Pay (as Aidan Truhen)

The Price You Pay (2018) concerns a drug dealer's quest for revenge on those who took out a contract on his life.

Seven Demons (as Aidan Truhen)

Seven Demons (2021), a sequel to The Price You Pay, is a heist thriller about an attempt to rob a high-security bank in Switzerland.

Titanium Noir

Titanium Noir (2023) is a futuristic crime thriller involving Titans, humans who have undergone genetic alterations which extend their lives and trigger growth such that they are many feet taller than normal human beings.

Karla's Choice

Karla's Choice (2024) is a spy novel in the George Smiley series, set between The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

Non-fiction

The Blind Giant (2012), Harkaway's first work of non-fiction, deals with the effect of digital change on society and what it means to be human.

Views on Google Book settlement

Harkaway has been an outspoken critic of the Google Book Search Settlement Agreement, posting on his blog, speaking out on BBC Radio's The World at One in May 2009, and appearing on a television debate with Krishnan Guru-Murthy and Tom Watson MP in September 2009.