THE TIMES BOOKS TO LOOK OUT FOR IN 2025
''Stephen May has a nose for fascinating historical events'' The Times
''Very fine and fun novel'' The Spectator
''The spry, sardonic voice of the new historical fiction'' Hilary Mantel
''Vivid and wholly credible recreation of post-Great War London'' Robert Edric
''Intrigue, betrayal, redemption'' Rachel Seiffert
David Lloyd George is at Chequers for the weekend with his mistress Frances Stevenson, fretting about the fact that his involvement in selling public honours is about to be revealed by one Victor Grayson. Victor is a bisexual hedonist and former firebrand socialist MP turned secret-service informant. Intent on rebuilding his profile as the leader of the revolutionary Left, he doesn't know exactly how much of a hornet's nest he's stirred up. Doesn't know that this is, in fact, his last day.
No one really knows what happened to Victor Grayson - he vanished one night in late September 1920, having threatened to reveal all he knew about the prime minister's involvement in selling honours. Was he murdered by the British government? By enemies in the socialist movement (who he had betrayed in the war)? Did he fall in the Thames drunk? Did he vanish to save his own life, and become an antiques dealer in Kent?
Whatever the truth, Green Ink imagines what might have been with brio, humour and humanity; and is a reminder that the past was once as alive as we are today.
Industry Reviews
'May skilfully orchestrates a large cast of both historical and fictional characters ... the novel's period detail is impeccable ... One of its chief pleasures is the authorial voice, which, with its maxims on pity, ambition, boredom and so forth, is of an omniscience rarely encountered in contemporary fiction' - Financial Times 'Smart and energetic, with memorable characters and sharp asides,' - Irish Times 'An idiosyncratic, rather dreamlike novel: it doesn't so much bring history to life as use a clutch of historical figures to showcase the author's own captivatingly offbeat intelligence' - Jake Kerridge, The Telegraph 'A vivid and wholly credible recreation of post-Great War London - All is imagined here in convincing and sardonic - and frequently hilarious - detail. Following the success of Sell Us The Rope, Stephen May has truly hit his stride' - Robert Edric Praise for Sell Us the Rope:'Original, adept and confident... What can I say, except that I wish I had written it myself?' Hilary Mantel'A deeply satisfying novel. Incisive, inventive, frequently very funny' Guardian'Historical facts furnish May with a cast of legends to bring to life, and he does it with verve and humour' The Times'Brilliant and original - part historical novel, part romantic comedy, and part bildungsroman about a tyrant-in-waiting' Marcel Theroux'A captivating thought-experiment that marks a consolidation of May's powers as a writer' Daily Telegraph
