London May 1907. Young Stalin attends conference of communists, connecting with fiery Finnish activist Elli Vuokko while he battles to keep the party radical and dodge the secret police.
Revolutionary, poet, lover. Robber, murderer, spy. May 1907 and a young Stalin is in London for a conference of Russian communists. With Lenin, Trotsky, and Rosa Luxemburg among others he battles to keep the party radical, while dodging the attentions of the Czar's secret police. He also finds himself drawn to a fiery Finnish activist, Elli Vuokko, beginning a relationship that is as dangerous as it is complicated.
Electrically-imagined, immersive and compulsively readable, Sell Us the Rope hums with the visceral energy of revolutionary fervour
-- Liz JensenOriginal, adept and confident... What can I say, except that I wish I had written it myself?
-- Hilary MantelA fascinating and immersive imagining of real events that both challenges and illuminates history.
-- Benjamin MyersBoldly conceived, precisely imagined, beautifully written.
-- Michael StewartStephen May's writing is convincing and engaging in this brilliant tale of revolutionary shenanigans in London.
-- Suzanne JoinsonStephen 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.