Confessions of a Map Dealer

Aug 2, 2025 12:28 PM

Author:Paul Micou

'My first mistake was to be heterosexual.'

Such is one of several complaints in the first of four conversations between Henry Hart - who is a married father of two young girls - and his long-time friend, Darius Saddler - who is gay and unattached.

It is just over a year since the two men last met. Crippled and humiliated by debt, Hart - a dealer in antique maps - has managed to ruin his marriage, to commit an undeniable act of theft, and to become a suspect in France for a very serious crime.

With a lover on the side, a stolen map in his pocket, an ace French detective on his trail, a wife who is unusually cold and in the know, it is time for Hart to enlist the help of his oldest friend.

Confessions of a Map Dealer relates the attempts of Hart and Saddler to knit their lives together again, and to extricate Hart from the myriad problems he has brought upon himself.

A mystery, a one-sided love story, a tale of guilt, blackmail and self-delusion, Confessions of a Map Dealer is an intricate comedy of errors from a celebrated practitioner of the genre.

Reviews

Micou is a master of comic characterisation and his writing style is often reminiscent of a young Graham Greene.

—— The Times

A farcical comedy of errors...there's a lot to enjoy.

—— Metro

Naqvi's prose is evocative of Nabokov in its immense energy; the vitality of the language reflects the immigrant's resourcefulness

—— Huffington Post

A slam-dunk for H.M. Naqvi

—— USA Today

Sharp, sleek prose, a tightly wrought structure and a slam poet's instinct carry this book to the top of the heap

—— The Hindu

A remarkably engaging novel that delights as it disturbs

—— The New York Times

Bursts with intelligence and energy and pathos. I haven't read anything like it

—— Gary Shteyngart

Naqvi's fast-paced plot, foul-mouthed erudition and pitch-perfect dialogue make for a stellar debut

—— Publishers Weekly

A giddy portrayal of youthful exuberance unleashed that rings startlingly true

—— Metro

Compelling, heart-wrenching and laced with redemptive hope . . . Touching and funny

—— Observer

Such is the exquisite, gossamer construction of Murakami's writing that everything he chooses to describe trembles with symbolic possibility

—— Guardian

Vintage Murakami [and] easily the most erotic of [his] novels

—— Los Angeles Times Book Review

[A] treat...Murakami captures the heartbeat of his generation and draws the reader in so completely you mourn when the story is done

—— Baltimore Sun

Murakami's most famous coming of age novel of love, loss and longing

—— Dazed and Confused

Catches the absorption and giddy rush of adolescent love... It is also, for all the tragic momentum and the apparently kamikaze consciousness of many of its characters, often funny and quirkily observed.

—— Times Literary Supplement

[A] treat . . . Murakami captures the heartbeat of his generation and draws the reader in so completely you mourn when the story is done.

—— The Baltimore Sun

One of the most poignant and evocative novels I have ever read

—— Palantinate

Poignant, romantic and hopeless, it beautifully encapsulates heartbreak and loss of faith

—— Sunday Times

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