Authors’ Club Lunch with Stephen May We are delighted to welcome Stephen May to the Authors’ Club to talk about Green Ink (Swift) an irreverent novel of politicians, spies and lovers – inspired by a true historical story. David Lloyd George is at Chequers for the weekend with his mistress Frances Stevenson, fretting about the fact that his involvement in selling public honours is about to be revealed by one Victor Grayson.
Victor is a bisexual hedonist and former firebrand Socialist MP turned secret service informant. Intent on rebuilding his profile as the leader of the revolutionary Left, he doesn’t know exactly how much of a hornet’s nest he’s stirred up. Doesn’t know that this is, in fact, his last day.
No one really knows what happened to Victor Grayson – he vanished one night in late September 1920, having threatened to reveal all he knew about the prime minister’s involvement in selling honours. Was he murdered by the British government? By enemies in the Socialist movement (who he had betrayed in the war)? Did he fall in the Thames drunk? Did he vanish to save his own life, and become an antiques dealer in Kent?
Whatever the truth, Green Ink imagines what might have been with brio, humour and humanity; and is a reminder that the past was once as alive as we are today.
‘The spry sardonic voice of the new historical fiction’ Hilary Mantel
‘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 Stephen May is the author of six novels including Life! Death! Prizes! which was shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award and The Guardian Not The Booker Prize. He has also been shortlisted for the Wales Book of the Year and is a winner of the Media Wales Reader’s Prize. He has written plays, as well as for television and film. To book please contact the Events office at [email protected] or call 020 7968 0912.
Tickets £39 includes a two-course lunch, followed by coffee, Meet for drinks in the Lounge at 12.30pm followed by Lunch at 1.00pm Please book early and inform the club of any dietary requirements.
