The Hopkins Conundrum

Simon Edge

’Genuinely funny and deeply poignant’ Daily Express

Tim Cleverley inherits a failing pub in Wales. The only thing of interest is its location, which is down the road from the remote Jesuit seminary where Victorian poet Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote his masterpiece, The Wreck of the Deutschland, about the death of a group of nuns fleeing Germany on board a doomed ship. To Tim, the opaque religious poetry is incomprehensible – almost as if it’s written in code.

This gives him an idea. Desperate for passing trade, he contacts an American author – famous as a purveyor of Holy Grail hokum – suggesting he write a book about the poet, the area and a recently discovered, and entirely fabricated, ‘mystery’. Fortunately for Tim, the famous author is going through a period of writer's block and latches on to his idea at once. But will Tim’s new relationship with a genuine Hopkins fan scupper the plan? 

The Hopkins Conundrum blends the real stories of Hopkins and the shipwrecked nuns while casting a wry eye on the Da Vinci Code industry in a highly original mix of fiction, literary biography and satirical commentary.

‘I love this novel. It pulls off the three-card trick of being entertaining, genuinely touching, and a fascinating insight into Gerard Manley Hopkins’ poetry’ Harriett Gilbert, presenter of A Good Read

‘The novel seesaws between comedy and calamity, present and past. It pokes fun at pretension but also gives an insight into why a Catholic poet such as Hopkins – so weird, so spiritual and so intense – deserves his claim to greatness. The result is a novel enjoyable on every level’ Daily Express

‘A splendid mix of literary detection, historical description and contemporary romance. Edge’s witty debunking of the Vatican conspiracy genre will appeal equally to fans and detractors of Dan Brown’ Michael Arditti

‘Edge keeps things enjoyably straightforward and the result is a pleasurable literary thriller. This is thoroughly enjoyable hokum. Edge wears his Hopkins learning lightly, sprinkling the book with snippets while avoiding didacticism or handholding... it’s a merry page-turner’ The Spectator

‘Wonderfully enjoyable: a masterful mash-up of contemporary literary satire and poetic erudition which had me laughing out loud and then reaching for the collected works of a now neglected Victorian poet. Prepare to be delighted’ Liz Trenow

‘A great read for anyone who has reached the end of a Vatican thriller with an eyebrow raised’ The Herald

‘A comedy with a touching emphasis on the importance of truth in human relationships’ The Tablet

Paperback: 288pp

Publisher: Lightning Books (June 2017)

ISBN: 9781785630330