THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
WINNER OF THE WATERSTONES DEBUT FICTION PRIZE 2024
A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK AT BEDTIME

‘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

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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?

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‘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