Glorious Exploits
As seen:
By Ferdia Lennon, and and, Ferdia Lennon
avg rating
1 review
Brought to you by Penguin.
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 WALTER SCOTT PRIZE
LONGLISTED FOR THE DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE
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
Ancient Sicily. Enter GELON: visionary, dreamer, theatre lover. Enter LAMPO: lovesick, 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?
‘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
©2024 Ferdia Lennon (P)2024 Penguin Audio
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Whitley Bay Book Group discussed Glorious Exploits in September 2025.
This was an interesting choice and a good discussion, and thanks to the group member who suggested it. Not many of us had previous heard of this book, and several commented that they wouldn’t have picked it up if not for the book group.
In Syracuse in ancient Sicily, two ordinary working men decide to put on a play with the help of Athenian captives imprisoned in a quarry. Most of us found it engaging and humorous, but by the half way mark it started getting grimmer and didn’t end well for most of the characters. A minority of the group didn’t enjoy it at all, and the humour and language didn’t work for them. But most of us loved the descriptions, could smell the tavern, sweat and sea, and found Lampo in particular very relatable. The author chose to have the Syracusans speaking English with Irish accents, which worked for most of us, particularly those listening to the audiobook which was narrated by the author himself. (They probably would have spoken ancient Greek with regional accents.)
Most of us found this book imaginative and original, dealing with timeless issues like friendship, love and loss, common humanity, and the power of art to have significance and impact even in the most dreadful situations.
We awarded the book between 1 and 5 stars, with an average of 3.5.
