Description
Book SynopsisTHE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
WINNER OF THE WATERSTONES DEBUT FICTION PRIZE 2024
WINNER OF THE BOLLINGER EVERYMAN WODEHOUSE PRIZE FOR COMIC FICTION 2024
SHORTLISTED FOR THE NERO AWARD FOR DEBUT FICTION 2024
LONGLISTED FOR THE AUTHORS'' CLUB BEST FIRST NOVEL AWARD 2025
A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK AT BEDTIME
A BBC2 BETWEEN THE COVERS PICK
PICKED AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE GUARDIAN, THE INDEPENDENT, THE IRISH TIMES, THE FINANCIAL TIMES AND THE TLS
One of the most original and brilliant debuts in years' Irish Times
Bold and totally unexpected ... I was hooked from the first page' Douglas Stuart, author of Shuggie Bain
Brilliant ... Hilarious, moving, and profound' R. F. Kuang, author of Yellowface
***
Ancient Sicily. Enter GELON: visionary, dreamer, theatre lover. Enter LAMPO: feckless, jobless, in need of a distraction.
Imprisoned in the quarries of Syracuse, thousands of defeated Athenians hang on by the thinnest of threads.
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.
And so an idea is born. Because, after all, you can hate the invaders but still love their poetry.
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.
What could possibly go wrong?
***
Fierce, funny, fast-paced Brings the ancient world roaring to life' Joanna Quinn, author of The Whalebone Theatre
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
Sunday Times bestseller, August 2024
Trade ReviewBold and totally unexpected, I loved this book. A
brilliant novel about friendship, the healing power of art, and why we must fight for our dreams. I was
hooked from the first page * Douglas Stuart, author of Shuggie Bain *
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 * Roddy Doyle *
As thrilling for me as the first time I picked up a Kevin Barry novel.
Glorious Exploits is
exuberant, funny, lyrical and
profoundly moving. It is, quite simply, a
rare beauty * Sarah Winman, author of Still Life *
Glorious Exploits stinks of misery, despair, love, war, poetry, reckless ambition, terrible failure, and
glorious triumph. It’s a novel thick with the stuff of the Classics, in other words.
A delicious treat of a read. I loved it * Jon McGregor *
With all the blunt humanity of Roddy Doyle,
Glorious Exploits is a
vividly conjured vision of the past.
Madly ambitious, cathartic like all great tragedy, but
shockingly funny too, Ferdia Lennon's outstandingly original début is
just glorious * Emma Donoghue, author of Room *
What a voice! What a story! A
darkly funny double act from Lampo and Gelon, sandwiched in between the transformative experience of theatre and forgiving your enemies.
I loved it from the first line * Claire Fuller *
Sublime.
Pitch-perfect dialogue, a
fast-moving story that is both
dark and lyrically beautiful, tragic and funny in equal measure.
Glorious Exploits is an
astonishingly original and gripping story of brotherhood, war and art. Ferdia Lennon is a
fierce new talent * Rebecca Stott, author of In the Days of Rain *
A
glorious thunderbastard, with a
unique, stark voice that is
expertly drawn. It is
cheeky, contemplative and sly with an
outrageous sense of humour and a
massive heart.
Lennon beats you with a club then whispers you poetry. It is
harsh and fun in a way that few other books are ... A book like this is
long overdue and
very welcome.
Thank the Gods. * Rory Gleeson, author of Rockadoon Shore *
Glorious Exploits is an agonising exploration of the cost of violence, for both its winners and losers. It is also a reminder of how dangerous and radical the making of art can be, as the attempt to stage
Medea with prisoners-of-war in 412 BC comes to represent war's opposite.
This perfect first novel is a tragicomic masterpiece. Ferdia Lennon has created
a story worthy of the Athenians: mortal, maddening, heart-mending * Clare Pollard, author of Delphi *
What a
truly magnificent novel this is: in turns riotous, brutal and deeply affecting. I am in no doubt that
Ferdia Lennon is the real deal. His captivating storytelling resonates with all the beauty of Euripides' plays. * Imogen Hermes Gowar, author of The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock *
Contemporary yet classical, vulnerable yet self-assured,
a beautiful story about the very power of storytelling * Santanu Bhattacharya, author of One Small Voice *
Funny, thoughtful, moving, brilliant * Nick Laird, Irish Sunday Independent *
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 * Joanna Quinn, author of The Whalebone Theatre *
Lennon
brings ancient Sicily to life with humor and pathos in his
stunning debut . . . Lampo’s crackling modern vernacular adds just the right amount of levity . . . Lennon’s vital tale
captivates * Publishers Weekly *
Lennon’s
distinctly modern voice adds
levity and wit to this
highly recommended narrative about the tragic aftermath of war and the tragic beauty of the human condition * Library Journal *
Lennon evokes a time when it was common to relish and revere the art of Homer’s poetry and Euripides’ drama. Those with that appetite today are fortunate to have Madeline Miller, Emily Wilson, Pat Barker, and recently James Hynes’
Sparrow. And Lennon.
An entertaining and impressive debut * Kirkus Starred Review *
A
truly original, blackly comic novel * Sunday Independent *
A
highly entertaining story from a
brilliant new voice * The Gloss *
Gorgeous * Guardian *
At once
charming and
convincingly gritty. The logistics are
riveting enough but Lennon takes them to a conclusion that
will move you profoundly, in several directions all at once * Mail on Sunday *
A
blinder of a book, narrated by Lampo in a modern Irish vernacular with all the wit to match. In fewer than 300 pages it also manages to pack in a heap of ideas – about war and art, brotherhood and community, love and loss.
A true gem * inews, The Best New Books to Read in January 2024 *
'
The debut novelist to watch ...
Remarkable ... This debut is
entertaining, vivid, original – and has a huge amount of fun turning the genre on its head ... The premise is
irresistible ...
Terrific ... A novel to be gulped down' * The i *
This
larky, spirited caper feels like a blast and a breeze ...
A
delight, both for the originality of its conception and its willingness to pursue such an eccentric idea to its logical conclusion’ * Sunday Times *
Quirkily original ... A tragi-comedy, in homage to Euripides, it is simultaneously
shocking, touching, and thought-provoking ... Recounted in a
lively Irish brogue,
Glorious Exploits has brio and brass neck * The Herald *
Immensely likeable ...
Raucously funny ... The writing is
beautifully controlled * The Observer *
Very funny ... Lennon is good on the art of direction. He is good, too, on historical contingency * Times Literary Supplement *
Wonderfully odd,
riotously funny ... This
superb novel builds to a
page-turning crescendo that evokes the great tragedy the men stage' * Booklist *
Engrossing, surprising ... He writes with a
wit and an
enchantment that very seldom waver ... Expect to encounter a heartfelt, convincing, poetically rendered world [which Lennon has conjured from] the ocean of his own
defiantly original sensibility * Literary Review *
