Green Ink

'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

‘May skilfully orchestrates a large cast of both historical and fictional characters … the novel’s period detail is impeccable … One of its chief pleasuresis 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

'An idiosyncratic, rather dreamlike novel: it doesn’t so much bring history to life as use a clutch of historical figures to showcase the author’s own captivatingly offbeat intelligence' - Jake Kerridge, The Telegraph

‘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

'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

'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

'It might be set in 1920, but Stephen May’s smart, sardonic novel has plenty to say about today’s world' Irish Times

'Intrigue, betrayal, redemption - a glimpse behind the political scenes of a bygone British era that feels very contemporary' - Rachel Seiffert

'Green Ink is a wonderful confection – with obvious echoes today – and has a prose style as nimble as a maître d at rush hour' - Crack Magazine, Book of the Month

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 May’s powers as a writer' Daily Telegraph