Glorious Exploits

An exciting, highly original story about brotherhood, war, and art, as well as the courage to dream of something greater than ourselves. "Bold and completely unexpected, I loved this book," Douglas Stuart, author of Shuggie Bain. "A very special, very clever, very entertaining novel," Roddy Doyle, author of Paddy Clarke, Ha Ha Ha.

It is 412 BC, and the invasion of Athens in Sicily has ended in catastrophic failure. Thousands of Athenian soldiers are trapped in the quarries of Syracuse, starving, demoralized, and barely keeping their heads above water. Lampo and Gelon are local potters, young men without work and hardly scraping together two obols. When they begin visiting the nearby quarry, they discover prisoners reciting lines from Euripides' plays in exchange for breadcrumbs and a few olives.

Thus, an idea is born: the men will perform Medea in the quarry. A proper performance that is to be sung about for centuries to come. After all, you can hate the Athenians for invading your territory, but still love their poetry. However, as the boldness of their endeavor becomes clear to them, it increasingly becomes difficult to distinguish between enemies and friends. As the performance approaches, the men will have their courage tested in ways they could never have imagined.

"Madly ambitious, cathartic like any great tragedy, but also shockingly funny, Ferdia Lennon's outstandingly original debut is simply glorious," Emma Donoghue, author of Room.