DOUBLE TROUBLE

Hervé Le Tellier's novel The Anomaly, about the mysterious duplication of a plane and its passengers, probes the very nature of existence. He talks with MARK BROATCH about the extraordinary success of his literary thriller.

- MARK BROATCH

THE ANOMALY, by Hervé Le Tellier (Michael Joseph, $37)

During an unexpected storm, Air France flight 006 from Paris to New York encounters terrible turbulence. The plane - whose battered and bruised passengers include a serial killer, an architect, a film editor, a lawyer, a closeted African musician and a suicidal writer - lands as normal. But then, three months later, an identical flight with identical passengers appears out of the skies. This is the plot of Hervé Le Tellier's literary thriller The Anomaly, which won the prestigious Prix Goncourt and has sold a million copies in his native France alone, and is now in dozens of translations and been bought for TV adaptation. As it's published in this country, Le Tellier speaks about researching his diverse cast of characters, the possibility that we might be living in a simulation, the importance of being funny, and what such huge success means for him.

Your book suggests that the world we live in might be a simulation, an idea popularised by people like philosopher Nick Bostrom, though the concept is ancient. It seems ideal for exploring questions about reality, the self, fate, free will. Where did your idea come from?