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Glorious Exploits 2024
Glorious Exploits is a 2024 historical fiction novel written by Irish author Ferdia Lennon. This marks his first novel, set primarily in Syracuse during 412 BC, following the failed Athenian military campaign in Sicily during the Peloponnesian War. The story centers on Lampo and Gelon, two potters without work, who enlist captured Athenian soldiers from the city’s stone quarries to perform plays written by Euripides. Most of the novel is told through Lampo's perspective, using contemporary Irish dialect that blends humor with descriptions of confinement and war's impact.
Lennon drew inspiration from Plutarch’s account of how certain Athenian prisoners managed to survive by reciting Euripides to their Sicilian captors. He dedicated approximately seven years to writing the book, conducting research using ancient sources as well as traveling to Greece and Sicily. The initial edition was released in the United Kingdom and Ireland by Fig Tree on 18 January 2024, while the American version appeared through Henry Holt and Company on 26 March.
Critics responded favorably to the novel, especially praising Lennon’s treatment of tragicomedy and Lampo's distinctive voice. Glorious Exploits was awarded the 2024 Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize, the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize, and the 2025 Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award.
Details
- Publisher
- Fig Tree
- ISBN
- 9780241617649
