Glorious Exploits

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The vanquished Athenians are being held captive in Syracusan quarries. Lampo’s best friend, Gelon, is “mad for” the Athenian tragedian Euripides, and the pair offer the starving prisoners sustenance in exchange for recitations from his plays. They then cast them in their own productions of “Medea” and “The Trojan Women”. I loved this book. Fierce, funny, fast-paced. Glorious Exploits brings the ancient world roaring to life in a brilliantly non-stuffy way—as if the figures on a Greek vase turned round, offered you wine, and started chatting. Thoroughly enjoyable, occasionally brutal, and shot through with insight, pathos and hope. Reminiscent of Kevin Barry and George Saunders, but wholly original—an unforgettable debut." The Ministry of Time is Sceptre’s superlead début for 2024, acquired in a 48-hour pre-empt. It has sold in 19 territories to date, and TV and film rights were optioned after a 21-way auction. The novel opens with the unnamed female civil servant narrator interviewing for a new job and learning that the British government has developed the means to travel through time. She will work as a “bridge”, a liaison and housemate, for an “expat” rescued from history: Commander Graham Gore (RN circa 1809-circa 1847). Four other expats (all fictional) are also brought into the 21st century.

Lennon’s fiction has appeared in The Irish Times and the Stinging Fly and his stories have been nominated the Hennessy Emerging Writer Award and the Galley Beggar Short Story Prize. In 2019 and 2021, he was awarded Arts Council bursaries. Having spent about seven years in Paris, Lennon now lives in Norwich with his family. He studied history and classics at University College Dublin, then graduated into the 2008 economic crash and taught English in Granada while making his first forays into writing. Later, he did an MA at UEA, taking Rebecca Stott’s “brilliant” historical fiction class alongside Imogen Hermes Gowar. In At Swims-Two-Birds, Flann O'Brien gave us cowboys riding through Dublin. Now, Ferdia Lennon gives us modern-day Dubliners living among the ancient Greeks. This is a very special, very clever, very entertaining novel.”Syracuse is battle-scarred, orphaned children running amok, and the novel contemplates the difficulty of forgiveness in the aftermath of war and the moral complexities of imprisonment. Although the book was begun long before, it’s tempting to draw parallels with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Like Russia, says Lennon, Athens never publicly stated that its aims were imperialistic. Like his hero, Hilary Mantel, Lennon approaches an historical turning point—the Athenian invasion of Sicily during the Peloponnesian War—from an unexpected angle, writing about Athens and theatre from an illiterate Syracusan potter’s perspective. With this in mind, I thought the concept was cool, but I was reading the book for a pretty obscure reason that had nothing to do with the genre or plot. So I was very happy when I fell in love with it.

But as the performance draws near and the audacity of their enterprise dawns on them, it becomes difficult to distinguish between enemies and friends. And Lampo, whose ambitions have never stretched beyond having enough coin for the next jug of wine, finds his aspirations elevated, his heart entangled and his courage tested in ways he could never have imagined. The story itself: a tale of overcoming differences, the power of art and love, brotherhood, romance, war, quests, victory, defeat, heartbreak, Glorious Exploits honestly had it all. It was both an epic and a tragedy and a comedy. The plot of the novel nearly mirrored the plays put on by the characters inside it. It was fully fledged and magnificent.

SO GELON SAYS to me, “Let’s go down and feed the Athenians. The weather’s perfect for feeding Athenians.” Enter for a chance to win an early copy of Ferdia Lennon's hilarious and moving debut, GLORIOUS EXPLOITS! Enter for a chance to win an early copy of Ferdia Lennon's hilarious and moving debut, GLORIOUS EXPLOITS! ...more