Doom Painting

One of our most exciting historical novelists takes on the peasants' revolt, in a blow-by-blow account of unlikely leader Wat Tyler and the 16 days in 1381 that turned England upside down. With cinematic action and a relish for medieval vocabulary, it's a punky successor to Hilary Mantel * Guardian *
Blakemore is a formidable talent. Few can evoke the past in such an urgent, deft way - and with Doom Painting she surely joins the first rank of historical fiction writers alongside Mantel and Tremain -- Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Exquisite and urgent, Doom Painting is so much more than historical fiction. It captures within its pages both the rebelliousness of the fourteenth century and the urgent spirit of our Age... An exceptional work that everyone should read, no matter whether they consider themselves more entranced by England's past or ambitious for its future -- Annie Garthwaite * author of The King’s Mother *
Truly astonishing. Blakemore has the rare gift of capturing the beating heart of events centuries past in all their complexity and unruliness, not for a second taking an eye off the tender, the human, the exquisite. Every page buzzes with the life of it -- Rebecca Perry
A thrilling retelling which brings the medieval world dazzlingly to life. This is historical fiction as it should be written. A triumph! -- Alice Loxton
Playful, violent, bloody and funny, Doom Painting makes poetry of England's great medieval peasant rebellion. As strange and wonderful as The Glutton, this book confirms A.K. Blakemore as one of the most original writers of historical fiction at work today -- Dan Jones
An enormous achievement. A. K. Blakemore has taken a trip back to 1381 and shown us all England from the lowest peasant grubbing in the mud to the young and hapless monarch in all his fumbling insecurity... A novel so dark, so full, so brave, so brimming with life (and death) and love and pain that I found myself often putting it down just to wonder at this enormous thing, at all these lives... A big bold, brilliant, brutal, beautiful masterpiece -- Edward Carey
A.K. Blakemore's talent is munificent, her language is munificent, and this novel is utterly munificent. Doom Painting is, undoubtedly, one of the best historical novels written in the last ten years -- Oisin Fagan
Incredible. Blakemore turns the distant past into something gut-twistingly human, sexy and alive -- Alex Hyde
[Blakemore's] prose has the strange, sensual specificity her readers know to expect. This medieval England feels lived in rather than researched. An ambitious, intricate novel running to nearly 700 pages, worth every last one of them * Bookseller *
A.K. Blakemore is developing a reputation for turning bizarre historical events into beautiful novels... Her latest is set during the Peasants' Revolt, and looks to be whip-smart and poetic at once * Telegraph *
Her most ambitious historical novel yet... Doom Painting unfolds hour by thrilling hour, across 16 turbulent days and 672 pages, to tell the story of how one Essex boy rose to lead a ramshackle peasant army of thousands in protest against unfair taxation in a country that had not long survived the Black Death * Bookseller *
An extraordinary young storyteller and a terrific stylist * Telegraph *
Brave, unique and sometimes startlingly beautiful... Worth every second * Times Literary Supplement *
Inventive * Country & Town House *
A.K. Blakemore's The Glutton was the standout historical novel or 2023. Doom Painting should cement her reputation as one of the best novelists in any genre. Immersive, playful, clever and wildly ambitious * The Times *
Funny, inventive, vexing and extremely horny... [Doom Painting] reinvigorates a grim period of history and puts the revel back in revolution * The Sunday Times *
The effect is immersive, a vigorous current of language that carries you along. It is also very funny, channeling a Chaucerian spirit of bawdy... [Doom Painting's] boldness and originality confirm her as an outstanding voice in contemporary historical fiction * Observer *
For a story of such magnitude, Blakemore maintains an impressive focus on character... I was moved * Telegraph *
Dazzlingly rich... If you have any sensitivity to language, you can romp around in its prose; if you have any political sensibility, the sweep of the revolt will draw you in... In an era of safe bets and timid choices, here is a work of reckless ambition * Guardian *
A lyrical, meditative book * Telegraph *
Recalls the linguistic ebullience and brilliance of James Joyce's Ulysses * London Magazine *
Glorious... Immerse yourself in the transcendent, visceral power of its breathtaking poetry and vision. A masterpiece * Mail on Sunday *
If you read one book this autumn, read Doom Painting, the astonishing - and astonishingly fun - new historical fiction from A.K. Blakemore * Shortlist *
A dense, addictive and finely crafted narrative... It's her most ambitious and successful work yet... Mesmerising in its beauty.... A remarkable achievement * Irish Times *
A terrific fever dream of a novel... There have been other novels about the Peasants' Revolt ... but Blakemore's is in a category of its own and seals her status as a thrilling pioneer in the field of historical fiction * The New World *