Glorious Exploits

A Novel

by Ferdia Lennon

English language

Published Dec. 8, 2024 by Holt & Company, Henry.

ISBN:: 978-1-250-89369-7

(7 reviews)

On the island of Sicily amid the Peloponnesian War, the Syracusans have figured out what to do with the surviving Athenians who had the gall to invade their city: they’ve herded the sorry prisoners of war into a rock quarry and left them to rot. Looking for a way to pass the time, Lampo and Gelon, two unemployed potters with a soft spot for poetry and drink, head down into the quarry to feed the Athenians if, and only if, they can manage a few choice lines from their great playwright Euripides. Before long, the two mates hatch a plan to direct a full-blown production of Medea. After all, you can hate the people but love their art. But as opening night approaches, what started as a lark quickly sets in motion a series of extraordinary events, and our wayward heroes begin to realize that staging a play can be …

Told in a contemporary Irish voice and as riotously funny as it is deeply moving, Glorious Exploits is an unforgettable ode to the power of art in a time of war, brotherhood in a time of enmity, and human will throughout the ages.

4 editions

beautiful soup reviewed Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon

"It's poetry we're doing... it wouldn't mean a thing if it were easy."

4 stars

I was trying to describe this book to a coworker and I told her "it's historical fiction, it's kind of a comedy?" Then I described the plot to her and watched her eyes widen with horror. Ok, so maybe it's a black comedy.

It's 412 BC and Sycracusan potter Gelon is a huge fan of Euripides, just absolutely nuts over the guy. Athens has just failed in their conquest of Sicily, and there's a whole quarry full of starving Athenian soldiers with nothing in particular to do except starve to death. And hey, some of them can even recite some Euripides. Obviously, it's time to put on a play.

If that sounds fucked up, well, it's kind of a fucked up book. It does not shy away from brutality or violence, and it is also genuinely hilarious and occasionally delightful, and the kind of addictive read that I didn't want to put down. The entire series of events is narrated through Lampo, Gelon's less accomplished and decidedly less enthusiastic friend, who is mostly hoping to earn enough to win the freedom of Lyra, the enslaved woman he's in love with. Lampo is refreshingly self-aware and tends to roll with the punches; he seems to take the absurdity of the situation in stride. He is a deeply flawed man who nevertheless loves his friend and who gradually comes to care for their Athenian actors, even when he's acting like an ass towards all of them. I liked him very much.

Despite its horrors and its absurdities, this was a fun read for me. There are twists and turns, acts of gods, mysterious benefactors, and, of course, poetry. I won't go into the conclusion of the novel, except to say that I found it satisfying and moving.

"Yet, he reasoned, perhaps in the end it was fitting, for his master was ever in love with misfortune and believed the world a wounded thing that can only be healed by story."