Very few authors can perfectly mix a blend of comedy and tragedy and have both effect you in equal measure. Lennon does this amazingly and leaves you with the most bittersweet feeling you will ever experience. With a distinctive Irish voice, Gelon and Lampo are characters that will stay with you. If you only read one book this year, make sure it’s Glorious Exploits.

Glorious Exploits is sensational! What an amazing read; bursting with life and action and I couldn’t put it down. Difficult to believe this is a debut. The writing is assured and the characters are superb. I know very little about Ancient Greece but this story has a real feel for the time and place. I could sense the brutality of the stone working and the plight of the prisoners. The dust and heat were, at times, almost tangible, Ferdina Lennon has woven a very entertaining story into this setting, bringing together opposing factions in an outrageous plan to stage two plays by Euripides. It’s a story for our times; one where hope and expectation is a way to lift life from the dismal reality. It’s a difficult book to describe. It’s laugh out loud funny as the personality of the two central characters is captured to perfection. Their interactions just flow. There’s also a darker side which gives balance and the plotting and pace as the outrageous scheme takes shape is spot on. A very different read and one which should have wide appeal and a book that’s going to be talked about. Loved it.

Dark and funny and absolutely brilliant. The language is a twist to the tale but manages to say something timeless about violence and performance rather than just being a gimmick. Even when our characters are being immoral, they are still sympathetic and the writing is so compulsive that their choices never make you want to stop reading. There's so much packed into a relatively short book and it never whacks you over the head with the point. I finished it and immediately wanted to start it again. The beating heart of the characters, tender and exposed and well-meaning, is so pronounced that even when they are cruel, the book is never apathetic about them. This is deserving of some of the highest praise I could offer a novel: a book that cares keenly about flawed people and makes you care too. Thank you to Penguin for my reading copy.

Lampo and Gelon are two regular potter lads who go down to the quarry to feed the Athenians and think, “Hey! Perhaps we should be directors and put on a play!” It’s written in an incredibly modern style but with such heart. Gelon loves the Athenian plays and he wants to show everyone the beauty of story. So as a character, he called to me initially. But it’s Lampo that surprised me. I think he was such a wonderfully complex character that felt like a friend by the end of the book and I love Ferdia for dreaming these boys up. It’s about unlikely friendships and brotherhood and creating something bigger than yourself. An extraordinary read.

Quality writing and storytelling. Reminds me in style and tone of Pat Barker's Greek novels. Suitably funny and tragic. Recommended.