Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Mar 2023
240 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Paperback Original.
Publication Information
In London in 1907, a decade before the revolution, young Stalin has yet to achieve the power, nor acted on the ruthlessness, that will define his legacy.
Instead, Koba, as he is known, arrives in London for the 5th Congress of the Russian Communist Party where he - and many of his fellow Bolsheviks - are only allowed to remain as a nonvoting witness. But his inability to vote does not limit his ability to act, and Stalin quickly begins forging alliances with the likes of Lenin, Trotsky, Rosa Luxemburg-and a vivacious Finnish activist named Elli Vuokko.
As the Congress progresses, Koba begins to take daring risks - with the young Finnish idealist, with his past relationships to the Russian government, and with his future in the party. But as he manipulates those loyal to him and seeks to discover who he will remain loyal to in return, we see a great political mind in the works, and witness the development of a dictator.
"May's stellar latest chronicles the three weeks Josef Stalin spent in London attending the fifth annual congress of the Russian Social Democratic Party...With a spare, sardonic style, May probes Stalin's childhood trauma, sense of charisma, and brutally violent side, humanizing him without sentimentalizing. Secondary figures, too, are incisively evoked...This is superb." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"The novel exposes the stark contradictions of communism at every turn … A subtly menacing portrayal of the future tyrant and mass killer." - Kirkus Reviews
"This inventive literary work … daringly tak[es] a darkly comedic approach." - Booklist
"A deeply satisfying novel. Incisive, inventive, frequently very funny." - The Guardian (UK)
"Historical facts furnish May with a cast of legends to bring to life, and he does it with verve and humour." - The Times (UK)
"A captivating thought-experiment that marks a consolidation of May's powers as a writer." - The Telegraph (UK)
"May is superb at summoning the sights and smells of turn of the century London...Intelligent and readable." - Financial Times (UK)
"A fascinating and immersive imagining of real events that both challenges and illuminates history." - Benjamin Myers
"Sell Us the Rope is original, adept and confident, with the spry sardonic voice of the new historical fiction: it is entertaining and in the end, deeply moving." - Hilary Mantel
This information about Sell Us the Rope was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Stephen May is the author of five novels including Life! Death! Prizes! which was shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award and the Guardian Not The Booker Prize. He has also been shortlisted for the Wales Book of the Year and is a winner of the Media Wales Reader's Prize. He has also written plays, as well as for television and film. He lives in West Yorkshire.
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