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The Ballad of Peckham Rye
The Ballad of Peckham Rye
Nov 29, 2025 2:58 PM

Author:Muriel Spark,William Boyd

The Ballad of Peckham Rye

A man of devilish charm and enterprising spirit, Dougal Douglas is employed to revitalize the ailing firm of Meadows, Meade & Grindley. He succeeds, but not quite in the way his employer intended. Strange things begin to happen as Dougal exerts an uncanny influence on the inhabitants of Peckham Rye and brings lies, tears, blackmail and even murder into the lives of all he meets, from Miss Merle Coverdale, head of the typing pool, to Beauty, the resident femme fatale, and even Mr Druce, the unsuspecting Managing Director himself.

Reviews

England's most important living poet

—— Times

Hill so entirely eclipses most of his contemporaries that it seems meaningless to rank in relation to them. Trumpets should be blown, garlands made ... loquacious, playful, wildly comic ... poignant. His greatness is as certain as that of the poets he invokes

—— Daily Telegraph

Whatever the densities of Hill's expression, or the powerful impacted forces in his syntax and rhythms, this poetry achieves a strength, memorability and precision beyond the abilities of any other poet writing in English

—— TLS

It's hard to overpraise Mary Wesley's novel...so tingling and spry with life that put a mirror to the book and I'll almost swear it will mist over with the breath of the five young cousins

—— The Times

A reading experience that evokes contemporary China with absurdist exactitude

—— Financial Times

Some of the best passages are, like this, sensuous and plainly descriptive. There is a fantastic mini-essay on the aphrodisiac qualities of the sea cucumber

—— Toby Litt , Guardian

Well-crafted, often hilarious and surreal

—— Big Issue

An amusing, charming read with a satirical edge

—— Metro
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