Glorious Exploits

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER<BR>WINNER OF THE WATERSTONES DEBUT FICTION PRIZE 2024<BR>WINNER OF THE BOLLINGER EVERYMAN WODEHOUSE PRIZE FOR COMIC FICTION 2024<BR>WINNER OF THE AUTHORS' CLUB BEST FIRST NOVEL AWARD<BR>WINNER OF THE PREMIO GREGOR VON REZZORI<BR>SHORTLISTED FOR THE NERO AWARD FOR DEBUT FICTION 2024<BR>SHORTLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE<BR>SHORTLISTED FOR THE DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE<BR>SHORTLISTED FOR THE JOHN MCGAHERN PRIZE<BR>SHORTLISTED FOR THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2025 (DEBUT FICTION)<BR>A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK AT BEDTIME<BR>A BBC2 BETWEEN THE COVERS PICK<BR>PICKED AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE GUARDIAN, THE INDEPENDENT, THE IRISH TIMES, THE FINANCIAL TIMES AND THE TLS<BR><BR>'One of the most original and brilliant debuts in years' Irish Times<BR><BR>'Bold and totally unexpected ... I was hooked from the first page' Douglas Stuart, author of Shuggie Bain<BR><BR>'Brilliant ... Hilarious, moving, and profound' R. F. Kuang, author of Yellowface<BR><BR>***<BR><BR>Ancient Sicily. Enter GELON: visionary, dreamer, theatre lover. Enter LAMPO: lovesick, jobless, in need of a distraction.<BR><BR>Imprisoned in the quarries of Syracuse, thousands of defeated Athenians hang on by the thinnest of threads.<BR><BR>They're fading in the baking heat, but not everything is lost: they can still recite lines from Greek tragedy when tempted by Lampo and Gelon with goatskins of wine and scraps of food.<BR><BR>And so an idea is born. Because, after all, you can hate the invaders but still love their poetry.<BR><BR>It's audacious. It might even be dangerous. But like all the best things in life - love, friendship, art itself - it will reveal the very worst, and the very best, of what humans are capable of.<BR><BR>What could possibly go wrong?<BR><BR>***<BR><BR>'Fierce, funny, fast-paced ... Brings the ancient world roaring to life' Joanna Quinn, author of The Whalebone Theatre<BR><BR>'Love, war, poetry, reckless ambition, terrible failure, and glorious triumph ... A delicious treat of a read. I loved it' Jon McGregor, author of Lean Fall Stand<BR><BR>Sunday Times bestseller, August 2024