Glorious Exploits
Published on 18. January 2024
Book
Hardback
288 pages
978-0-241-61764-9 (ISBN)
Description
THE 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
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
Reviews / Votes
One of the most original and brilliant Irish debuts in years * Irish Times * '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 * Bold 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 * Immensely likeable ... Raucously funny ... The writing is beautifully controlled * The Observer * Brilliant ... I love contemporary Irish fiction and Greek tragedy, so how wonderful to find a novel where they are brilliantly paired. It is as hilarious, moving, and profound as promised * Rebecca F. Kuang, author of Yellowface * 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 * 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 * One of the best debut novels of the year - it even received an award saying so - this is a ridiculously fun book...It's a poignant story about war, art, and friendship, while also being very funny * iPaper - The 30 best books for Christmas 2024 * Funny, thoughtful, moving, brilliant * Nick Laird, Irish Sunday Independent *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Penguin Books Ltd
Dimensions
Height: 224 mm
Width: 147 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
396 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-241-61764-9 (9780241617649)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Ferdia Lennon
Glorious Exploits
A bold and funny Sunday Times bestselling debut novel set in Ancient Sicily
E-Book
01/2024
Fig Tree
€10.99
Available for download
Person
FERDIA LENNON was born and raised in Dublin. He holds a BA in History and Classics from University College Dublin and an MA in Prose Fiction from the University of East Anglia. Glorious Exploits is his first novel. A Sunday Times bestseller, it was adapted for BBC Radio 4 and was the winner of the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize 2024. After spending many years in Paris, he now lives in Norwich with his wife and son.