"deals at length with the 1780s and 1790s. Besides the obvious reference to the mythological dictionary of John Lempriere, there are also a variety of allusions to historical and literary figures of the period, from direct references to Warren Hastings, to a conspiracy-theory re-imagining of the French Revolution, to (my favourite) the 'Pantisocratic Pirates'—founded upon radical principles, and led by Wilberforce van Clam." —J. Wright

"Winner of the 1992 Somerset Maugham Award"