Financial Times
“Derby Day is a triumphant success. In this unputdownable Victorian romp Taylor enjoyable proves himself to be one of the finest of our 21st-century novelists.”— A. N. Wilson
The Washington Post
“D. J. Taylor, a British writer of formidable accomplishments,has pulled off an impressive and wholly engaging feat in Derby Day. The prose brings to mind Thackeray and Dickens. It is delicious fun. Taylor leaves one delighted to have visited this world and to have shared in its dissolute yet inviting pleasures. Derby Day is on every count a winner.”— Jonathan Yardley
The New York Times Book Review
“Epsom Derby is the subject of an intricately plotted and stylistically burnished crime caper. Taylor builds the suspense,sending his characters to the racetrack for the final event. Whether he intends Tiberius to win or to lose remains, like much else in this tantalizing novel, mysterious almost to the end.”
Jonathan Yardley - The Washington Post
“D. J. Taylor, a British writer of formidable accomplishments,has pulled off an impressive and wholly engaging feat in Derby Day. The prose brings to mind Thackeray and Dickens. It is delicious fun. Taylor leaves one delighted to have visited this world and to have shared in its dissolute yet inviting pleasures. Derby Day is on every count a winner.”
A. N. Wilson - Financial Times
“Derby Day is a triumphant success. In this unputdownable Victorian romp Taylor enjoyable proves himself to be one of the finest of our 21st-century novelists.”
The Washington Post
- Jonathan Yardley
“D. J. Taylor, a British writer of formidable accomplishments,has pulled off an impressive and wholly engaging feat in Derby Day. The prose brings to mind Thackeray and Dickens. It is delicious fun. Taylor leaves one delighted to have visited this world and to have shared in its dissolute yet inviting pleasures. Derby Day is on every count a winner.”
Financial Times
- A. N. Wilson
“Derby Day is a triumphant success. In this unputdownable Victorian romp Taylor enjoyable proves himself to be one of the finest of our 21st-century novelists.”
Publishers Weekly
An ardent passion for horse racing in Victorian society shines through in the intricate new novel by British novelist and award-winning Orwell biographer Taylor, where the ambitions of a motley bunch of stakeholders in the season’s largest race collide at London’s Epsom Downs. The foppish George Happerton, a “sporting gentleman,” marries Rebecca Gresham, the spoiled daughter of a lawyer, and purchases proven champion Tiberius. Happerton then schemes with the grubby Captain Raff to use Tiberius to throw the race in their betting favor. They enlist the services of a master thief in the process, attracting the attention of the bloodhound policeman who is investigating a brazen jewelry store burglary. The surprisingly sordid plot builds to the climatic Derby Day’s festivities and includes double-crosses, suicides, and infidelity. Taylor’s rich atmospheric details of British society, confident narrative voice, and brisk pacing create an entertaining Dickensian novel. Agent: Melanie Jackson, the Melanie Jackson Agency. (Apr.)
