New Seed for Old

The First-Born of Egypt #4

by Simon Raven

The fourth in the First Born of Egypt series has Lord Canteloupe wanting a satisfactory heir so that his dynasty may continue. Unfortunately, Lord Canteloupe is impotent and his existing heir, little Tully Sarum, is not of sound mind. His wife Theodosia is prepared to do her duty when a suitable partner is found. Finding the man and the occasion proves somewhat tricky however, and it is not until Lord Canteloupe goes up to Lord's for the first match of the season that progress is made.

Genres: Fiction

Hardcover

First published December 31, 1987

About the author

Simon Arthur Noël Raven (28 December 1927 – 12 May 2001) was an English novelist, essayist, dramatist and raconteur who, in a writing career of forty years, caused controversy, amusement and offence. His obituary in The Guardian noted that, "he combined elements of Flashman, Waugh's Captain Grimes and the Earl of Rochester", and that he reminded Noel Annan, his Cambridge tutor, of the young Guy Burgess.

Among the many things said about him, perhaps the most quoted was that he had "the mind of a cad and the pen of an angel". E W Swanton called Raven's cricket memoir Shadows on the Grass "the filthiest cricket book ever written". He has also been called "cynical" and "cold-blooded", his characters "guaranteed to behave badly under pressure; most of them are vile without any pressure at all". His unashamed credo was "a robust eighteenth-century paganism....allied to a deep contempt for the egalitarian code of post-war England"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_R...

Reviews

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5, rounded down.

This fourth volume in Raven's second series concerns itself primarily with the plot to do away with Marquess Cantaloupe's now four-year-old 'idiot' son, Tullius, Lord Sarum, and replace him with a new heir via his second wife, Theodosia (which explains the title).

As distasteful as that premise undoubtedly IS, it is in line with the general tone and bizarre happenings of the rest of the series, and, of course, things do not quite transpire as planned. This is one of the shorter of the author's works, but it's saying something that I read the nearly 200 pages in less than 24 hours.

[Kiri Johnston · Rating 2 out of 5]

This series is fast becoming nonsensical to the extent that even I can’t enjoy it … nothing much progressed the plot in this, and everything about Sarum , as a character and plot device, just felt unnecessary. Loved Jeremy being revealed as a slutty bottom though - that’s so real.

[Johan · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a wicked mind Simon Raven has! On the one hand the reader is repelled and fascinated at the same time by the shenanigans of the main characters.

[Chiefdonkey Bradey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elegant devilry