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Put Out More Flags
Put Out More Flags
Aug 2, 2025 4:51 PM

Author:Evelyn Waugh,Nigel Spivey

Put Out More Flags

Upper-class rogues, bohemians, dowagers, socialites, bureaucrats and delinquent evacuees prepare for England to change forever, in this hilarious and deadly serious 1942 satire on the 'phoney war'

The hideous, then unfamiliar shriek of the air-raid sirens sang out over London

What happened to the characters of Decline and Fall and Vile Bodies when the war broke out? Put Out More Flags shows them adjusting to the changing social pattern of the times. Some of them play a valorous part; others, like the scapegrace Basil Sea, disclose their incorrigible habit of self-preservation in all circumstances. Basil's contribution to the war effort involves the use of his peculiar talents in such spheres of opportunity as the Ministry of Information and an obscure section of Military Security - adventures which incite Evelyn Waugh to another pungent satire upon the coteries of Mayfair.

Reviews

a wicked satire in the well-known Waugh manner

—— The New York Times

a novel of breathtaking symmetry, grace, craft, and discipline

—— L. E. Sissman , The Atlantic

His sensitivity to the tics and cadences of his characters’ speech and ways of being is uncannily acute, and full of the same freshness and resonance of perception as Wodehouse’s own style. . . it vibrates with the spirit and rhythms of [Wodehouse’s] heart

—— Matthew Adams , Sunday Times

An amusing and well-written homage to the master . . . Schott excels with a series of similes and metaphors every bit as striking as those Wodehouse came up with. A delight to read.

—— Observer

A most thrilling return of Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster.

—— Sunday Times

Impossible to read without grinning idiotically. Tinkety-tonk!

—— Mark Sanderson , Evening Standard

A glorious procession of high jinks

—— Louis Wise , Sunday Times

Highly recommended

—— Daily Express

Remarkably good… in its similes, pace and general zing, this yarn is eerily Wodehousian. Blisteringly well done.

—— Quentin Letts , Daily Mail

A true delight.

—— Vanity Fair

A fizzy new homage... Schott burnishes the gleam.

—— New York Times

Glorious . . . undeniably an impressive, hugely enjoyable feat of ventriloquism.

—— Christmas Books , Country Life Magazine

It is hard not to warm to this hugely entertaining homage.

—— Mail on Sunday

The cast is a delight, with many characters who will be familiar to Wodehouse aficionados . . . his prose is elegant and charming and he captures the lilt and rhythms of the original . . . a warm, worthy and rollicking tribute.

—— Literary Review

This joyous and thoughtful tribute leaves you wanting more.

—— Sophie Ratcliffe , TLS

By Jove! It's a ripping old yarn... Dashed agreeably close to the master.

—— Daily Mail

A hugely enjoyable caper

—— The Week

There are laughs and admirable ingenuity in Schott’s confection

—— Irish Times

A book that is so close in spirit and style to the PG Wodehouse originals it’s like the real thing

—— The Sport

Top-notch fun.

—— S magazine

Succeeds triumphantly, both as light entertainment and as a tribute to the master

—— Country & Town House

In his first foray into PG Wodehouse homage/imitation/pastiche (whichever it may be) Schott appeared to hit the Wodehouse target dead on.

—— RTE

Jonathan Coe's Middle England is brilliantly insightful on the times we are living in

—— Mishal Husain, Books of the Year , Big Issue

Let me add to the chorus of praise for Jonathan Coe's new book Middle England. Easily my favourite of his since What a Carve Up! Which did for Thatcherism what Middle England does for Brexit

—— John Crace

An astute, enlightened and enlightening journey into the heart of our current national identity crisis. Both moving and funny. As we'd expect from Coe

—— Ben Elton

From post-industrial Birmingham to the London riots and the current political gridlock, it takes in family, literature and love in a comedy for our times

—— Guardian

Coe can make you smile, sigh, laugh; he has abundant sympathy for his characters

—— Scotsman

This book is sublimely good. State of the (Brexit) nation novel to end them all, but also funny, tender, generous, so human and intelligent about age and love as well as politics

—— India Knight

Probably the best English novelist of his generation

—— Nick Hornby

No modern novelist is better at charting the precariousness of middle-class life

—— Observer

An angry and exuberant book

—— Sunday Times on 'Number 11'

Jonathan Coe has established himself as one of the most entertaining chroniclers of our times

—— Tatler

You can't stop reading....I was haunted for days

—— Independent on 'Number 11'
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