Sean Longley is a marvellous new talent. The Hartlepool Monkey had me gripped from beginning to end
Amanda Foreman, author of GEORGIANA, DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE
 

When Simon Legris, a physician from Paris, returns from an expedition to Africa, he brings home a monkey that understands human speech and names him Jacques LeSinge. Utterly devoted to him, Jacques becomes his servant. While in the service of an ailing marquis, Legris receives some shattering hews -Jacques has been accused of molesting the aristocrat’s wife and has been dismissed in disgrace.

After an audacious French Revolutionary plot goes wrong, Jacques stands in the dock in Hartlepool accused of espionage. Warrens, a lowly 'one-guinea brief' barrister, stands to defend him. In the greatest challenge of his career, he mounts a defence that asks: what makes a man?

A demonically witty digest of all things eighteenth-century, this is an eccentric and hugely entertaining début.

An imaginative first novel...comic and irreverent
The Times

Full of period colour, racy incident and simian heroism, it's hard to see how a reader could fail to be thrilled
Independent on Sunday

A sparkling debut...The possibilities for humour are obvious, but what impresses is the way the author has latched on to its serious potential. A beautifully told tale
Mail on Sunday

This historical incident is rich material for a novel, and Longley attacks his subject with relish...Longley's period detail is spot-on, his style vivacious.
Guardian

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