The Pentecost Papers

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What to expect

Bloomsbury presents The Pentecost Papers by Ferdinand Mount, read by Paul Blezard

'Gloriously inventive, wonderfully entertaining, wickedly knowing . . . Read it and revel' JOHN BANVILLE
'The unsung hero of his generation of novelists . . . Astute, funny and heartbreaking' TANYA GOLD

Corruption, destruction, danger and murder: Welcome to the murky world of the super-rich.

Timothy ‘Timbo’ Smith, part-time healer and self-styled security analyst, travels down the dark canyons of global capitalism, from short-selling scams in the City to the depleted rainforests of Brazil.

His accomplices in this irresistible safari through the late modern world are two reformed alcoholics, the lovely and brilliant Lee ‘Lethal’ Thorold, and her husband Professor Luke Deverill, lecherous Oxford philosopher and caustic computer wizard. Their misadventures are followed at a bewildered distance by the played-out diplomatic correspondent Dickie Pentecost, who tags along mostly because Timbo is the only man who can cure his agonising back and is always one step behind the Machiavellian actions of those who precede him.

Readers who loved the author’s earlier stinging satire, Making Nice, will find this novel an even more telling takedown of the way we live now but pretend we don’t.

Praise for the author:
‘Mount’s storytelling is irresistible’ LITERARY REVIEW
‘One of our finest prose stylists’ DAILY TELEGRAPH
‘[Mount] exposes such cold truths with such warmth – I am in eternal awe of his writing, wherever I find it’ MARINA HYDE

Critics Review

The Pentecost Papers is gloriously inventive, wonderfully entertaining, wickedly knowing and simply an all-round treat. Ferdinand Mount’s literary powers are undimming. Read it and revel
JOHN BANVILLE, Man Booker Prize-winning author of The Sea
Ferdinand Mount is the unsung hero of his generation of novelists. He casts a wry eye over the cruelties and absurdities of the modern super rich. Astute, funny and heartbreaking
TANYA GOLD
Another sharp satire – this time on the ultra-rich – as well as another exuberant caper … there’s wit, drama and intrigue in abundance here, and the dis­parate plot strands are woven together to constitute a satisfying conclusion … A hugely enjoyable comedy of manners
The Telegraph
Mount always has a twinkle in his eye ... Shamelessly fun
Literary Review
The rompy plot plays out as an unlikely spy caper buoyed by wry diction and wicked glee
Mail on Sunday
Combines the thriller, the children’s book and the comic novel … Ferdinand Mount writes with lush intensity … and the novel is dotted with witticisms and wry comments. Moreover the ecologically conscious message is both necessary and vital
Times Literary Supplement
His comedy lies in the neat clip of his sentences, the creation of dialogue which is both off-puttingly direct and consistently confusing, his pleasure in language (there is a bank called Keillor Garrison) and his allowing his outlandish plots to become more and more farcical … I was reminded at times of Graham Greene’s The Ministry of Fear, while his own tall stories, Timbo tells Dickie, are inspired by John le Carre and sci-fi. This is a book to return to. Not only does Mount understand everything about the mess we have got ourselves into, but he explains it all in perfect prose
The Oldie
Offers the good old-fashioned pleasures of prose and plot. Its madcap antics and Waughian wit and wordplay are a joy
Spectator

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