'Intrigue, betrayal, redemption - a glimpse behind the political scenes of a bygone British era that feels very contemporary' - Rachel Seiffert 'Stephen May has a nose for fascinating historical events, which he then gives the fictional treatment' - The Times Books to Look Out For In 2025 'Funny, scurrilous, revealing and memorable' - Historical Novel Society 'May has a nose for historical curiosities ... good at capturing the cynical mood of the 1920s, the world of flappers and traumatised veterans and corrupt swells ... Clever and playful' - Robbie Millen, The Times 'An idiosyncratic, rather dreamlike novel: it doesnt so much bring history to life as use a clutch of historical figures to showcase the authors own captivatingly offbeat intelligence' - Jake Kerridge, The Telegraph A vivid and wholly credible recreation of post-Great War London that threadbare, incendiary world of shabby intrigue, half-remembered figures now lost to the shadows, and an old order desperate to reestablish its corrupt credentials and squandered authority. All is imagined here in convincing and sardonic and frequently hilarious detail. Following the success of Sell Us The Rope, Stephen May has truly hit his stride - Robert Edric 'Green Ink is a wonderful confection with obvious echoes today and has a prose style as nimble as a maītre d at rush hour' - Crack Magazine, Book of the Month 'An intriguing mystery that cuts the mustard as a political thriller and a literary historical novel ... Witty but sinister nonetheless, with contemporary resonance' - Crime Time FM May has found his forte speculating on the what ifs of history. That he imbues his story with a rallying call for feminism and neatly solves the mystery surrounding the narrator only further increases my admiration for this very fine and fun novel - Susie Mesure, The Spectator 'In his compelling new novel Stephen May engages with one of the great mysteries in British political history' - Unseen Histories May skilfully orchestrates a large cast of both historical and fictional characters the novels period detail is impeccable One of its chief pleasures is the authorial voice, which, with its maxims on pity, ambition, boredom and so forth, is of an omniscience rarely encountered in contemporary fiction - Financial Times 'Striking and entertaining, with something joyful on every page ... this is a novel that uses history as its springboard ... prose is sharp and bright, with a nice aphoristic quality that makes each page seem nutritious. Green Ink is a grand, provocative entertainment' - John Self, The Critic Praise for Sell Us the Rope
Original, adept and confident... What can I say, except that I wish I had written it myself? Hilary Mantel
A deeply satisfying novel. Incisive, inventive, frequently very funny Guardian
Historical facts furnish May with a cast of legends to bring to life, and he does it with verve and humour The Times
Brilliant and original part historical novel, part romantic comedy, and part bildungsroman about a tyrant-in-waiting Marcel Theroux
A captivating thought-experiment that marks a consolidation of Mays powers as a writer' Daily Telegraph