The Goddess Of Buttercups And Daisies

Greece is the word Release Date: 2 April 192 pages | Paperback/ ebook Author: Martin Millar Publisher: Piatkus His prose style is sparse, he writes about losers and, thanks to his agoraphobia, he’s doesn’t make it to many festivals to give readings. Martin Millar, it’s safe to say, has never become a mainstream literary figure. And yet there are good arguments to suggest he’s one of Britain’s most important writers – if only for the way his early novels, such as his 1987 debut Milk, Sulphate And Alby Starvation, anticipated both alt- fic by the likes of Irving Welsh and, especially with 1992’ s The Good Fairies Of New York, urban fantasy.

London is usually Millar’s beat, but Buttercups And Daisies is set in an ancient Athens exhausted by years of war with Sparta. Here, Aristophanes rails at his latest play being underfunded ( his cast’s comedy phalluses just aren’t big enough to get laughs), the gods and their servants capriciously intervene in human affairs, urbane Socrates occasionally dispenses words of wisdom, and poor but ( mostly) optimistic Luxos the poet hopes the world will come to see his talent – and falls in love with a nymph.

If this all sounds slight, nothing could be further from the truth because, make no mistake, it’s tough to write this directly, this simply, and yet still make your readers think anew about why war is rubbish and love is ace. A wonderful book. Jonathan Wright Luxos the poet bears more than a slight resemblance to Lux from Lux The Poet, Millar’s 1988 novel set in Brixton.