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Hadrian the Seventh
Hadrian the Seventh
Dec 27, 2025 8:03 PM

Author:Frederick Rolfe

Hadrian the Seventh

'If there be one place in all this orb of earth where a secret is a Secret, that place is a Roman Conclave'

Part novel, part daydream, part diatribe, this strange masterpiece tells the story of George Arthur Rose, a poor, frustrated writer who lives in a shabby bedsit, saving his cigarette ends and eating soup - until one day he is made Pope. As the first English pontiff in five centuries, he is a mass of contradictions: infallible and petulant, humble and despotic. Yet Hadrian the Seventh is really a knowing self-portrait of its flamboyant author Baron Corvo, a would-be priest with aristocratic pretensions, and one of the greatest eccentrics of English literature.

Reviews

Extraordinarily alive ... a first-rate book

—— D.H. Lawrence

One of the most extraordinary achievements in English literature

—— A.J.A. Symons

A brilliant fantasy self-portrait

—— London Review of Books

A novel like no other

—— Weekly Standard

An exhilaratingly literate and playful first novel by a fresh, electrifying talent. DeWitt goes to the top of the class...her adventurousness spins out on an epic scale

—— New York Times

A brilliant debut novel...keeps things moving at an exhilarating clip... DeWitt is formidably intelligent but engagingly witty

—— Washington Post

Destined to become a classic

—— Garth Risk Hallberg

The Last Samurai is an original work of brilliance about, in part, the limits of brilliance. And in literature as in life, DeWitt understands that what we like most of all is a good yarn

—— Time

You walk into a book due to an Akira Kurosawa link and your fondness for the great film-maker. You walk out, staggered by the book's originality and bravery... It should be read by everyone

—— Irish Times

I adored this crazy, fabulous, lovable book… This really does deserve to be a modern classic

—— The Pool

A brilliant and sad book… The funniest book I’ve read in years.

—— Spectator

Helen DeWitt is a real find – I loved this book

—— Independent on Sunday

It is exciting for the future of the novel that a writer can do all the basic things readers need – from Peter Pan to the Odyssey, from Bleak House to The Crying of Lot 49 – and do something new with the form of the tale itself

—— New Yorker

A delightful and original novel – expansive and intelligent writing

—— Daily Telegraph

DeWitt pushes against the limitations of the novel as a form; reading her, one wants to push against the limitations of one’s own brain

—— Paris Review

An original, daring novel, The Last Samurai could well become a classic – accessible and as unremittingly entertaining to the casual reader as it is rewarding to those who would delve further

—— Times Literary Supplement

A tremendous novel. DeWitt is one of the most interesting writers working in the English language today

—— David Flusfeder

A singular masterpiece

—— Vulture

The Last Samurai is a book everyone should be talking about

—— Huffington Post

De Witt has intelligence, wit and unusual stylistic bravery

—— Guardian

An ambitious, colossal debut novel

—— Publishers Weekly

DeWitt pushes enjoyably but firmly against (and sometimes beyond) the unknown capabilities of the reader

—— Harry Strawson , Times Literary Supplement

Ryan has the ability to shatter your heart into a million pieces with every book he writes - and even have you welcome the pain.

—— Stylist

An example of masterful storytelling

—— RTE Culture

With each novel Ryan gets better, and this moving and quietly insistent work is his best yet.

—— RTE Guide

You can sense his compassion in the bones of his work

—— Sunday Business Post

Devastating and masterful

—— Irish Country Magazine

A hugely affecting, moving read. I was heartbroken by the end, but adored every chapter

—— Image Magazine

Beautiful

—— Woman’s Way

Each section displays Ryan’s range as a writer... [he] writes with brilliant empathy.

—— Boston Globe

Exquisitely rendered, with raw anguish sublimated into lyrical prose.

—— Washington Post

Heartbreaking … Arguably the best of the new wave of Irish writers to have emerged over the last decade

—— Irish Mail on the Sunday, Books of the Year

Ryan has the gift of ventriloquism - he inhabits his fictional creations thoroughly, enveloping you in their worlds

—— Sunday Business Post, Books of the Year

Sublime

—— Irish Independent, Books of the Year

From a Low and Quiet Sea by Donal Ryan made me laugh and cry and forced me to look strangers in the eye

—— Liz Nugent , Irish Times, Books of the Year

Beautifully bleak and characterised by his remarkable ability to write about grief and common humanities.

—— Diarmaid Ferriter , Irish Times, Books of the Year

Beautiful, compassionate

—— Sinéad Crowley , RTÉ Culture, Best Books of 2018

Superlatives wouldn’t do for describing From a Low and Quiet Sea … understated, and gloriously heart rendering

—— Hot Press, Books of the Year

Strout turns her clear, incisive gaze on the intricacies and betrayals of small town life

—— Maggie O'Farrell

Anything is Possible is predictably great because it's written by Elizabeth Strout, and brilliantly unpredictable - because it is written by Elizabeth Strout

—— Roddy Doyle
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