Overview

She is a curator, who spends her time dressing the rooms of historic buildings to bring them to life. A replica pie, half-eaten, perched on a small desk in the servant's quarters. A fruit bowl, filled with artificial apples, pomegranates and pears, with one piece missing. It should feel as though her subject has just left the room; the air should be alive with their energy. But in the great halls and lush private quarters of a medieval palace, she finds herself so transfixed by the reign of an almost-forgotten King that the edges of her life begin to blur. He is a reluctant ruler, rushed to the throne after the untimely deaths of his two older brothers. He has no hunger for power, and he resists the crown. But as winter turns to spring, whispers begin to fly around the court. Some say he is weak and will lead the country to ruin. Others call him a cuckhold, unable to satisfy his wife. And with the belief that the King is not fit for the throne, comes the idea that another might rule in his stead. May We Feed the King dances between a historical subject who resists the march of progress and a woman who turns to the past to hide from her present, to offer a beguiling meditation on history and storytelling: on what makes a King 'Great', and a life meaningful.

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9781803513867

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Reviews

Meditative, compelling and intricate as a puzzle box - I found myself turning it over and over, admiring and wrong footed and dazzled -- Kiran Millwood Hargrave May We Feed The King floored me with the precision of its emotional insights and eccentric view of history-as-narrative... A sort of perfect snow globe, presenting a decadent world in miniature that surprises us with the depth of its reflections on power, yearning and loneliness -- A. K. Blakemore A beautifully crafted novel of mise en scènes. Perry blurs the lines between historical narrative and modern narrator, shining a light on the inescapable and murky unknowability that permeates how we tell stories of past and present -- Susannah Dickey

May We Feed The King floored me with the precision of its emotional insights and eccentric view of history-as-narrative. This novella is a sort of perfect snowglobe, presenting a decadent world in miniature that surprises us with the depth of its reflections on power, yearning and loneliness, even as it revels in its own delicious kitsch... I can confidently say I've never read anything else quite like it, and that I loved every page -- A. K. Blakemore

Meditative, compelling and intricate as a puzzle box - I found myself turning it over and over, admiring and wrong footed and dazzled -- Kiran Millwood Hargrave Perry combines effortless exactitude with canny ambiguity to create a novel that is always as stimulating as it is enchanting. May We Feed the King is a rare achievement, I absolutely loved it -- Claire-Louise Bennett I loved this book very much, I know I will return to it and anything else Perry writes, there is magic here -- Daisy Johnson May We Feed The King floored me with the precision of its emotional insights and eccentric view of history-as-narrative... A sort of perfect snow globe, presenting a decadent world in miniature that surprises us with the depth of its reflections on power, yearning and loneliness -- A. K. Blakemore May We Feed the King is exquisite, every detail, object, image, and feeling startlingly precise, illuminated from within. I entered the novel easily, and, once there, the world outside its pages faded blissfully away. It was the only place I wanted to be, the only book I wanted to be reading -- Amina Cain An arresting and daringly imaginative meditation on history, duty, masculinity and the stories we are drawn to. In gorgeously measured prose, the novel sets the historical alongside the fabular to conjure a world of intrigue and detail -- Daisy Lafarge Funny, sharply sad and full of real love. Majestic -- Ben Pester A beautifully crafted novel of mise en scènes. Perry blurs the lines between historical narrative and modern narrator, shining a light on the inescapable and murky unknowability that permeates how we tell stories of past and present -- Susannah Dickey

Author Information

Rebecca Perry is the author of two full-length poetry collections - Beauty/Beauty and Stone Fruit - both published by Bloodaxe Books (2015, 2021), as well as four pamphlets. Her poetry has been shortlisted for awards including the TS Eliot Prize and her first collection won the Michael Murphy Memorial Prize. Her first work of creative non-fiction - On Trampolining - was published by Makina Books in 2023. She is from London, where she also lives.

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